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Purchased  by  the  Hammill   Missionary  Fund. 


Division 
Section        » 
Number 


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KOREA,   AND   HER  NEIGHBORS 


KOREA 

And    Her    Neighbors 

A  Narrative  of  Travel,  with 
an  Account  of  the  Recent 
Vicissitudes  and  Present 
Position    of    the    Country 


Isabella  Bird   Bishop,   F.R.G.S. 

Author  of  '•''Unbeaten   Tracks  in  Jaf>an^^''  etc. 

With  a  Preface  by 

Sir  Walter  C.  HiUier,  K.C.M.G. 

Late  British  Consul-General  for  Korea 


With  Illustrations  from  Photographs  by  the  Author, 
and  Maps,  Appendixes  and  Index 


New  York     Chicago      Toronto 

Fleming   H.   Revell   Company 


M  DCCC  XCVIII 


Copyright    1897 

BY 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 


Preface. 

I  have  been  honored  by  Mrs.  Bishop  with  an  invitation  to 
preface  her  book  on  Korea  with  a  few  introductory  remarks. 

Mrs  Bishop  is  too  well  known  as  a  traveler  and  a  writer  to 
require  any  introduction  to  the  reading  public,  but  I  am  glad 
to  be  afforded  an  opportunity  of  indorsing  the  conclusions  she 
has  arrived  at  after  a  long  and  intimate  study  of  a  people  whose 
isolation  during  many  centuries  renders  a  description  of  their 
character,  institutions  and  peculiarities,  especially  interesting 
at  the  present  stage  of  their  history. 

Those  who,  like  myself,  have  known  Korea  from  its  first 
opening  to  foreign  intercourse  will  thoroughly  appreciate  the 
closeness  of  Mrs.  Bishop's  observation,  the  accuracy  of  her 
facts,  and  the  correctness  of  her  inferences.  The  facilities  en- 
joyed by  her  have  been  exceptional.  She  has  been  honored 
by  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  the  King  and  the  late 
Queen  in  a  degree  that  has  never  before  been  accorded  to  any 
foreign  traveler,  and  has  had  access  to  valuable  sources  of 
information  placed  at  her  disposal  by  the  foreign  community 
of  Seoul,  official,  missionary,  and  mercantile;  while  her  pres- 
ence in  the  country  during  and  subsequent  to  the  war  between 
China  and  Japan,  of  which  Korea  was,  in  the  first  instance,  the 
stage,  has  furnished  her  the  opportunity  of  recording  with  ac- 
curacy and  impartiality  many  details  of  an  episode  in  far  East- 
ern history  which  have  hitherto  been  clouded  by  misstatement 
and  exaggeration.  The  hardships  and  difficulties  encountered 
by  Mrs.  Bishop  during  her  journeys  into  the  interior  of  Korea 
have  been  lightly  touched  upon  by  herself ;  but  those  who  know 


2  Preface 

how  great  they  were,  admire  the  courage,  patience  and  endur- 
ance that  enabled  her  to  overcome  them. 

It  must  be  evident  to  all  who  know  anything  of  Korea  that 
a  condition  of  tutelage,  in  some  form  or  another,  is  now  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  her  existence  as  a  nation.  The  nominal 
independence  won  for  her  by  the  force  of  Japanese  arms  is  a 
privilege  she  is  not  fitted  to  enjoy  while  she  continues  to  labor 
under  the  burden  of  an  administration  that  is  hopelessly  and 
superlatively  corrupt.  The  role  of  mentor  and  guide  exercised 
by  China,  with  that  lofty  indifference  to  local  interests  that 
characterizes  her  treatment  of  all  her  tributaries,  was  under- 
taken by  Japan  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Chinese  armies  from 
Korea.  The  efforts  of  the  Japanese  to  reform  some  of  the 
most  glaring  abuses,  though  somewhat  roughly  applied,  were 
undoubtedly  earnest  and  genuine;  but,  as  Mrs.  Bishop  has 
shown,  experience  was  wanting,  and  one  of  the  Japanese 
Agents  did  incalculable  harm  to  his  country's  cause  by  falling  a 
victim  to  the  spirit  of  intrigue  which  seems  almost  inseparable 
from  the  diplomacy  of  Orientals.  Force  of  circumstances  com- 
pelled Russia  to  take  up  the  task  begun  by  Japan,  the  King 
having  appealed  in  his  desperation  to  the  Russian  Representa- 
tive for  rescue  from  a  terrorism  which  might  well  have  cowed 
a  stronger  and  a  braver  man.  The  most  partial  of  critics  will 
admit  that  the  powerful  influence  which  the  presence  of  the 
King  in  the  house  of  their  Representative  might  have  enabled 
the  Russian  Government  to  exert  has  been  exercised  through 
their  Minister  with  almost  disappointing  moderation.  Never- 
theless, through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown, 
LL.D,,  head  of  the  Korean  Customs  and  Financial  Adviser  to 
the  Government,  an  Englishman  whose  great  ability  as  an 
organizer  and  administrator  is  recognized  by  all  residents  in 
the  farther  East,  the  finances  of  the  country  have  been  placed 
in  a  condition  of  equilibrium  that  has  never  before  existed; 
while  numerous  other  reforms  have  been  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Brown  and  others  with  the  cordial  support  and  co-operation 
of  the  Russian  Minister,  irrespective  of  the  nationality  of  the 
agent  employed. 


Preface  3 

Much,  however,  still  remains  to  be  done;  and  the  only  hope 
of  advance  in  the  direction  of  progress— initiated,  it  is  only  fair 
to  remember,  by  Japan,  and  continued  under  Russian  auspices 
—is  to  maintain  an  iron  grip,  which  the  Russian  Agents,  so  far, 
have  been  more  careful  than  their  Japanese  predecessors  to 
conceal  beneath  a  velvet  glove.     The  condition  of  Korean  set- 
tlers in  Russian  territory  described  by  Mrs.  Bishop  shows  how 
capable  these  people  are  of  improving  their  condition  under 
wise  and  paternal  rule;  and,  setting  all  political  considerations 
aside,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  prosperity  of  the  people 
and  their  general  comfort  and  happiness  would  be  immensely 
advanced  under  an  extension  of  this  patronage  by  one  or  other 
civilized  Power.     Without  some  form  of  patronage  or  control, 
call  it  by  what  name  we  will,  a  lapse  into  the  old  groove  of  op- 
pression, extortion,  and  its  concomitant  miseries,  is  inevitable. 
Mrs.   Bishop's  remarks  on  missionary  work  in  China  and 
Korea,  based,  as  they  are,  on  personal  and  sympathetic  obser- 
vation, will  be  found  of  great  value  to  those  who  are  anxious 
to  arrive  at  a  correct  appreciation  of  Christian  enterprise  in 
these  remote  regions.     Descriptions  of  missionaries  and  their 
doings  are  too  often  marred  by  exaggerations  of  success  on  the 
one  hand,  which  are,  perhaps,  the  natural  outcome  of  enthusi- 
asm, and  harsh  and  frequently  unjust  criticisms  on  the  other, 
commonly  indulged  in  by  those  who  base  their  conclusions 
upon  observation  of  the  most  superficial  kind.     Speaking  from 
my  own  experience,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  closer 
inquiry  would  dispel  many  of  the  illusions  about  the  futility  of 
missionary  work  that  are,   unfortunately,   too  common;   and 
that  missionaries  would,  as  a  rule,  welcome  sympathetic  in- 
quiry into  their  methods  of  work,  which  most  of  them  will 
frankly  admit  to  be  capable  of  improvement.     But,  while  court- 
ing friendly  criticism,  they  may  reasonably  object  to  be  judged 
by  those  who  have  never  taken  the  trouble  to  study  their  sys- 
tem, or  to  interest  themselves  in  the  objects  they  have  in  view. 
In  Mrs.  Bishop  they  have  an  advocate  whose  testimony  may 
be  commended  to  the  attention  of  all  who  are  disposed  to  re- 
gard missionary  labor  as,  at  the  best,  useless  or  unnecessary. 


4  Preface 

In  Korea,  at  all  events,  to  go  no  farther,  it  is  to  missionaries 
that  we  are  assuredly  indebted  for  almost  all  we  know  about 
the  country;  it  is  they  who  have  awakened  in  the  people  the 
desire  for  material  progress  and  enlightenment  that  has  now 
happily  taken  root,  and  it  is  to  them  that  we  may  confidently 
look  for  assistance  in  its  farther  development.  The  unacknowl- 
edged, but  none  the  less  complete,  religious  toleration  that 
now  exists  throughout  the  country  affords  them  facilities  which 
are  being  energetically  used  with  great  promise  of  future  suc- 
cess. I  am  tempted  to  call  attention  to  another  point  m  con- 
nection with  this  much-abused  class  of  workers  that  is,  I  think, 
often  lost  sight  of,  namely,  their  utility  as  explorers  and  pio- 
neers of  commerce.  They  are  always  ready — at  least  such  has 
been  my  invariable  experience — to  place  the  stores  of  their 
local  knowledge  at  the  disposal  of  any  one,  whether  merchant, 
sportsman,  or  traveler,  who  applies  to  them  for  information, 
and  to  lend  him  cheerful  assistance  in  the  pursuit  of  his  ob- 
jects. I  venture  to  think  that  much  valuable  information  as  to 
channels  for  the  development  of  trade  could  be  obtained  by 
Chambers  of  Commerce  if  they  were  to  address  specific  inqui- 
ries to  missionaries  in  remote  regions.  Manufacturers  are  more 
indebted  to  missionaries  than  perhaps  they  realize  for  the  intro- 
duction of  their  goods  and  wares,  and  the  creation  of  a  demand 
for  them,  in  places  to  which  such  would  never  otherwise  have 
found  their  way. 

It  is  fortunate  that  Mrs.  Bishop's  visit  to  Korea  was  so  op- 
portunely timed.  At  the  present  rate  of  progress  much  that 
came  under  her  observation  will,  before  long,  be  "improved" 
out  of  existence ;  and  though  no  one  can  regret  the  disappear- 
ance of  many  institutions  and  customs  that  have  nothing  but 
their  antiquity  to  recommend  them,  she  has  done  valuable  serv- 
ice in  placing  on  record  so  graphic  a  description  of  experiences 
that  future  travelers  will  probably  look  for  in  vain. 

WALTER   C.  HILLIER. 

October^  1897. 


Author's  Prefatory  Note. 

My  four  visits  to  Korea,  between  January,  1894,  and  March,  1897, 
formed  part  of  a  plan  of  study  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  the 
Mongolian  races.  My  first  journey  produced  the  impression  that 
Korea  is  the  most  uninteresting  country  I  ever  traveled  in,  but  dur- 
ing and  since  the  war  its  political  perturbations,  rapid  changes,  and 
possible  destinies,  have  given  me  an  intense  interest  in  it_;  while 
Korean  character  and  industry,  as  I  saw  both  under  Russian  rule 
in  Siberia,  have  enlightened  me  as  to  the  better  possibilities  which 
may  await  the  nation  in  the  future.  Korea  takes  a  similarly  strong 
grip  on  all  who  reside  in  it  sufficiently  long  to  overcome  the  feeling 
of  distaste  which  at  first  it  undoubtedly  inspires. 

It  is  a  difficult  country  to  write  upon,  from  the  lack  of  books  of 
reference  by  means  of  which  one  may  investigate  what  one  hopes 
are  facts,  the  two  best  books  on  the  country  having  become  obsolete 
within  the  last  few  years  in  so  far  as  its  political  condition  and 
social  order  are  concerned.  The  traveler  must  laboriously  disinter 
each  fact  for  himself,  usually  through  the  medium  of  an  inter- 
preter ;  and  as  five  or  six  versions  of  each  are  given  by  apparently 
equally  reliable  authorities,  frequently  the  "teachers"  of  the  for- 
eigners, the  only  course  is  to  hazard  a  bold  guess  as  to  which  of 
them  has  the  best  chance  of  being  accurate. 

Accuracy  has  been  my  first  aim,  and  my  many  foreign  friends  in 
Korea  know  how  industriously  1  have  labored  to  attain  it.  It  is  by 
these,  who  know  the  extreme  dftficulty  of  the  task,  that  I  shall  be 
the  most  leniently  criticised  wherever,  in  spite  of  carefulness,  I 
have  fallen  into  mistakes. 

Circumstances  prevented  me  from  putting  my  traveling  experi- 
ences, as  on  former  occasions,  into  letters.  I  took  careful  notes, 
which  were  corrected  from  time  to  time  by  the  more  prolonged  ob- 
servations of  residents,  and  as  I  became  better  acquainted  with  the 
country  ;  but,  with  regard  to  my  journey  up  the  South  Branch  of 
the  Han,  as  I  am  the  first  traveler  who  has  reported  on  the  region,  I 
have  to  rely  on  my  observation  and  inquiries  alone,  and  there  is 
the  same  lack  of  recorded  notes  on  most  of  the  country  on  the 
Upper  Tai-dong.  My  notes  furnish  the  travel  chapters,  as  well  as 
those  on  Seoul,  Manchuria,  and  Primorsk  ;  and  the  sketches  in 
contemporary  Korean  history  are  based  partly  on  official  docu- 


Author's  Prefatory  Note 


ments,  and  are  partly  derived  from  sources  not  usually  accessible. 

I  owe  very  much  to  the  kindly  interest  which  my  friends  in  Ko- 
rea took  in  my  work,  and  to  the  encouragement  which  they  gave 
me  when  I  was  disheartened  by  the  diflaculties  of  the  subject  and 
my  own  lack  of  skill.  I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  invaluable 
help  given  me  by  Sir  Walter  C.  Hillier,  K.C.M.G.,  H.B.M.'s  Consul- 
General  in  Korea,  and  Mr.  J.  M'Leavy  Brown,  LL.D.,  Chief  Com- 
missioner of  Korean  Customs;  also  the  aid  generously  bestowed 
by  Mr.  Waeber,  the  Russian  Minister,  and  the  Rev.  G.  Heber  Jones, 
the  Rev.  James  Gale,  and  other  missionaries.  I  am  also  greatly 
indebted  to  a  learned  and  careful  volume  on  Korean  Government,  by 
Mr.  W.  H.  Wilkinson,  H.B.M.'s  Acting  Vice-Consul  at  Chemulpo, 
as  well  as  to  the  Korean  Repository  2lVl&  the  Seoul  Independent,  for  in- 
formation which  has  enabled  me  to  correct  some  of  my  notes  on 
Korean  customs. 

Various  repetitions  occur,  for  the  reason  that  it  appears  to  me 
impossible  to  give  sufficient  emphasis  to  certain  facts  without  them; 
and  several  descriptions  are  loaded  with  details,  the  result  of  an 
attempt  to  fix  on  paper  customs  and  ceremonies  destined  shortly  to 
disappear.  The  illustrations,  with  the  exceptions  of  three,  are  re- 
productions of  my  own  photographs.  The  sketch  map,  in  so  far  as 
my  first  journey  is  concerned,  is  reduced  from  one  kindly  drawn 
for  me  by  Mr.  Waeber.  The  transliteration  of  Chinese  proper 
names  was  kindly  undertaken  by  a  well-known  Chinese  scholar, 
but  unfortunately  the  actual  Chinese  characters  were  not  in  all 
cases  forthcoming.  In  justice  to  the  kind  friends  who  have  so  gen- 
erously aided  me,  I  am  anxious  to  claim  and  accept  the  fullest 
measure  of  personal  responsibility  for  the  opinions  expressed, 
which,  whether  right  cr  wrong,  are  wholly  my  own. 

I  am  painfully  conscious  of  the  demerits  of  this  work,  but  believ- 
ing that,  on  the  whole,  it  reflects  fairly  faithfully  the  regions  of 
which  it  treats,  I  venture  to  present  it  to  the  public;  and  to  ask  for 
it  the  same  kindly  and  lenient  criticism  with  which  my  records  of 
travel  in  the  East  and  elsewhere  have  hitherto  been  received,  and 
that  it  maybe  accepted  as  an  honest  attempt  to  make  a  contribution 
to  the  sum  of  the  knowledge  of  Korea  and  its  people,  and  to  de- 
scribe things  as  I  saw  them,  not  only  in  the  interior  but  in  the 
troubled  political  atmosphere  of  the  capital. 

ISABELLA  L.  BISHOP. 
November^  iSg'j. 


Contents 


Chapter  Page 

Introductory  Chapter 1 1 

I.  First  Impressions  of  Korea 23 

II.  First  Impressions  of  the  Capital 35 

III.  The  Kur-dong 49 

IV.  Seoul,  the  Korean  Mecca 59 

V.  The  Sailing  of  the  Sampan 66 

VI.  On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand 71 

VII.  Views  Afloat 82 

VIII.  Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids 98 

IX.  Korean  Marriage  Customs 114 

X.  The  Korean  Pony — Korean  Roads  and  Inns  ...  121 

XI.  Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries 133*^ 

XII.  Along  the  Coast 150 

XIII.  Impending  War — Excitement  at  Chemulpo  ....  177 

XIV.  Deported  to  Manchuria 185 

XV.  A   Manchurian   Deluge  —  A  Passenger  Cart  —  An 

Accident 192 

XVI.  Mukden  and  its  Missions 199 

XVII.  Chinese  Troops  on  the  March 206 

XVIII.  Nagasaki — Wladivostok 213 

XIX.  Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia 223 

XX.  The  Trans-Siberian  Railroad 239 

XXI.  The  King's  Oath — An  Audience 245 

XXII.  A  Transition  Stage 261 

XXIII.  The  Assassination  of  the  Queen 269 

XXIV.  Burial  Customs 283 

XXV.  Song-do:  A  Royal  City 292 

XXVI,  The  Phyong-yang  Battlefield 301 

XXVII.  Northward  Ho  ! 320 

XXVIII.  Over  the  An-kil  Yung  Pass 330 

7 


8  Contents 

Chapter  Page 

XXIX.  Social  Position  of  Women 338 

XXX.  Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women 344^^ 

XXXI.  The  Hair-cropping  Edict 359 

XXXII.  The  Reorganized  Korean  Government 371 

XXXIII.  Education  and  Foreign  Trade 387 

XXXIV.  D^MONisM  OR  Shamanism 399*^ 

XXXV.  Notes  on  D^monism  Concluded 409*^ 

XXXVI.  Seoul  in  1897 427 

XXXVII.  Last  Words  on  Korea 445 

Appendixes 461 

Appendix  A. — Mission  Statistics  for  Korea  1896. 
Appendix  B. — Direct  Foreign  Trade  of  Korea 

1896-95. 
Appendix  C. — Return  of  Principal  Articles  of 

Export  for  the  years  1806-95. 
Appendix  D. — Population  of  Treaty  Ports. 
Appendix  E. — Treaty  between  Japan  and  Russia, 
with  reply  of  h.  e.,  the  korean  minister 
FOR  Foreign  Affairs. 
Index 475 


List  of  Illustrations. 

Page 

Mrs.  Bishop's  Traveling  Party Frontispiece 

Harbor  of  Chemulpo Facing    30 

Gate  of  Old  Fusan _ 34 

Japanese   Military   Cemetery,  Chemulpo Facing    38 

Turtle  Stone 48 

Gutter  Shop,  Seoul Facing    60 

The  Author's  Sampan,  Han  River Facing    66 

Korean  Peasants  at  Dinner 81 

A  Korean  Lady 120 

The  Diamond  Mountains Facing  140 

Tombstones  of  Abbots,  Yu-Ch6m  Sa Facing  146 

Passenger  Cart,  Mukden 198 

Temple  of  God  of  Literature,  Mukden Faciitg  200 

Gate  of  Victory,  Mukden Facing  208 

Chinese  Soldiers Facing  210 

Wladivostok Facing  214 

Russian  "  Army,"  Krasnoye  Celo Facing  232 

Korean  Settler's   House 238 

Korean  Throne Facijig  248 

Summer  Pavilion,  or  "  Hall  of  Congratulations  ". .  .Facing  254 

Royal  Library,  Kyeng-Pok  Palace Facing  256 

9 


lO  List  of  Illustrations. 

Page 

Korean  Gentleman  in  Court  Dress 260 

Place  of  the  Queen's  Cremation 268 

Chil-Sung  Mon,  Seven  Star  Gate 300 

Altar  at  Tomb  of   Kit-ze Facing  318 

Russian  Settler's   House , Facing  320 

Upper  Tai-Dong Facing  324 

Russian  Officers,  Hun-Chun Facing  330 

South  Gate Facing  412 

Seoul  and  Palace  Enclosure Facing  428 

The  King  of  Korea , Facing  430 

Korean  Cadet  Corps  and  Russian  Drill  Instructors. T^izr/w^  434 

A  Street  in   Seoul Facing  436 

Korean  Policemen,  Old  and  New.  „ 444 


GENERAL  MAP  OF  KOREA  ANDNEIGHBOURING  COUNTRIES^ 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


INTRODUCTORY  CHAPTER 

IN  the  winter  of  1894,  when  I  was  about  to  sail  for  Korea 
(to  which  some  people  erroneously  give  the  name  of  '*  The 
Korea"),  many  interested  friends  hazarded  guesses  at  its  po- 
sition,—the  Equator,  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  Black  Sea 
being  among  them,  a  hazy  notion  that  it  is  in  the  Greek  Arch- 
ipelago cropping  up  frequently.  It  was  curious  that  not  one 
of  these  educated,  and,  in  some  cases,  intelligent  people  came 
within  2,000  miles  of  its  actual  latitude  and  longitude ! 

In  truth,  there  is  something  about  this  peninsula  which  has 
repelled  investigation,  and  until  lately,  when  the  establishment 
of  a  monthly  periodical,  carefully  edited.  The  Korean  Reposi- 
tory, has  stimulated  research,  the  one  authority  of  which  all 
writers,  with  and  without  acknowledgment,  have  availed  them- 
selves, is  the  Introduction  to  Pere  Ballet's  Histoire  de  V 
£glise  de  Koree,  a  valuable  treatise,  many  parts  of  which, 
however,  are  now  obsolete. 

If  in  this  volume  I  present  facts  so  elementary  as  to  provoke 
the  scornful  comment,  ''  Every  schoolboy  knows  that,"  I  ven- 
ture to  remind  my  critics  that  the  larger  number  of  possible 
readers  were  educated  when  Korea  was  little  more  than  ''a 
geographical  expression,"  and  had  not  the  advantages  of  the 
modern  schoolboy,  whose  '*  up-to-date "  geographical  text- 
books have  been  written  since  the  treaties  of  1883  opened  the 
Hermit  Nation  to  the  world ;  and  I  will  ask  the  minority  to  be 

XI 


12  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

patient  with  what  may  be  to  them  '*  twice-told  tales  "  for  the 
sake  of  the  majority,  specially  in  this  introduction,  which  is 
intended  to  give  something  of  lucidity  to  the  chapters  which 
follow. 

The  first  notice  of  Korea  is  by  Khordadbeh,  an  Arab  geog- 
rapher of  the  ninth  century,  a.d.,  in  his  Book  of  Roads  and 
Provinces,  quoted  by  Baron  Richofen  in  his  work  on  China, 
p.  575.  Legends  of  the  aborginal  inhabitants  of  the  peninsula 
are  too  mythical  to  be  noticed  here,  but  it  is  certain  that  it 
was  inhabited  when  Kit-ze  or  Ki-ja,  who  will  be  referred  to 
later,  introduced  the  elements  of  Chinese  civilization  in  the 
twelfth  century  B.C.  Naturally  that  conquest  and  subsequent 
immigrations  from  Manchuria  have  left  some  traces  on  the 
Koreans,  but  they  are  strikingly  dissimilar  from  both  their 
nearest  neighbors,  the  Chinese  and  the  Japanese,  and  there 
is  a  remarkable  variety  of  physiognomy  among  them,  all  the 
more  noticeable  because  of  the  uniformity  of  costume.  The 
difficulty  of  identifying  people  which  besets  and  worries  the 
stranger  in  Japan  and  China  does  not  exist  in  Korea.  It  is 
true  that  the  obliquity  of  the  Mongolian  eye  is  always  present, 
as  well  as  a  trace  of  bronze  in  the  skin,  but  the  complexion 
varies  from  a  swarthy  olive  to  a  very  light  brunette. 

There  are  straight  and  aquiline  noses,  as  well  as  broad  and 
snub  noses  with  distended  nostrils;  and  though  the  hair  is 
dark,  much  of  it  is  so  distinctly  a  russet  brown  as  to  require 
the  frequent  application  of  lampblack  and  oil  to  bring  it  to  a 
fashionable  black,  while  in  texture  it  varies  from  wiriness  to 
silkiness.  Some  men  have  full  moustaches  and  large  goatees, 
on  the  faces  of  others  a  few  carefully  tended  hairs,  as  in  China, 
do  duty  for  both,  while  many  have  full,  strong  beards.  The 
mouth  is  either  the  wide,  full-lipped,  gaping  cavity  constantly 
seen  among  the  lower  orders,  or  a  small  though  full  feature,  or 
thin-lipped  and  refined,  as  is  seen  continually  among  patricians. 

The  eyes,  though  dark,  vary  from  dark  brown  to  hazel ;  the 
cheek  bones  are  high ;  the  brow,  so  far  as  fashion  allows  it  to 


Introductory    Chapter 


13 


be  seen,  is  frequently  lofty  and  intellectual ;  and  the  ears  are 
small  and  well  set  on.  The  usual  expression  is  cheerful,  with 
a  dash  of  puzzlement.  The  physiognomy  indicates,  in  its 
best  aspect,  quick  intelligence,  rather  than  force  or  strength 
of  will.     The  Koreans  are  certainly  a  handsome  race. 

The  physique  is  good.  The  average  height  of  the  men  is 
five  feet  four  and  a  half  ^  inches,  that  of  the  women  cannot  be 
ascertained,  and  is  ^/^proportionately  less,  while  their  figure- 
less  figures,  the  faults  of  which  are  exaggerated  by  the  ugliest 
dress  on  earth,  are  squat  and  broad.  The  hands  and  feet  of 
both  sexes  and  all  classes  are  very  small,  white,  and  exquisitely 
formed,  and  the  tapering,  almond-shaped  finger-nails  are  care- 
fully attended  to.  The  men  are  very  strong,  and  as  porters 
carry  heavy  weights,  a  load  of  100  pounds  being  regarded  as 
a  moderate  one.  They  walk  remarkably  well,  whether  it  be  the 
studied  swing  of  the  patrician  or  the  short,  firm  stride  of  the 
plebeian  when  on  business.  The  families  are  large  and  healthy. 
If  the  Government  estimate  of  the  number  of  houses  is  correct, 
the  population,  taking  a  fair  average,  is  from  twelve  to  thirteen 
millions,  females  being  in  the  minority. 

Mentally  the  Koreans  are  liberally  endowed,  specially  with 
that  gift  known  in  Scotland  as  "  gleg  at  the  uptak."  The  for- 
eign teachers  bear  willing  testimony  to  their  mental  adroitness 
and  quickness  of  perception,  and  their  talent  for  the  rapid  ac- 
quisition of  languages,  which  they  speak  more  fluently  and 
with  a  far  better  accent  than  either  the  Chinese  or  Japanese. 
They  have  the  Oriental  vices  of  suspicion,  cunning,  and  un- 

»The  following  are  the  measurements  of  1,060  men  taken  at  Seoul  in 
January,  1897,  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Stripling:— 


Highest. 

Lowest. 

Average. 

Height   . 

Size  round  chest 

head    . 

5  ft.  iiX  in. 
39'A  i"- 
23X  " 

4  ft.  9K  in. 
27  in. 
20  " 

5  ft.  4K  in- 
31  in. 

21/2  " 

14  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

truthfulness,  and  trust  between  man  and  man  is  unknown. 
Women  are  secluded,  and  occupy  a  very  inferior  position. 

The  geography  of  Korea,  or  Ch'ao  Hsien  (''Morning 
Calm,"  or  ''Fresh  Morning"),  is  simple.  It  is  a  definite 
peninsula  to  the  northeast  of  China,  measuring  roughly  600 
miles  from  north  to  south  and  135  from  east  to  west.  The 
coast  line  is  about  1,740  miles.  It  lies  between  34°  17'  N.  to 
43°  N.  latitude  and  124°  38'  E.  to  130°  2>?>'  E.  longitude,  and 
has  an  estimated  area  of  upwards  of  80,000  square  miles,  be- 
ing somewhat  smaller  than  Great  Britain.  Bounded  on  the 
north  and  west  by  the  Tu-men  and  Am-nok,  or  Yalu,  rivers, 
which  divide  it  from  the  Russian  and  Chinese  empires,  and  by 
the  Yellow  Sea,  its  eastern  and  southern  limit  is  the  Sea  of 
Japan,  a  "silver  streak,"  which  has  not  been  its  salvation. 
Its  northern  frontier  is  only  conterminous  with  that  of  Russia 
for  II  miles. 

Both  boundary  rivers  rise  in  Paik-tu  San,  the  "White- 
Headed  Mountain,"  from  which  runs  southwards  a  great 
mountain  range,  throwing  off  numerous  lateral  spurs,  itself  a 
rugged  spine  which  divides  the  kingdom  into  two  parts,  the 
eastern  division  being  a  comparatively  narrow  strip  between 
the  range  and  the  Sea  of  Japan,  difficult  of  access,  but  ex- 
tremely fertile ;  while  the  western  section  is  composed  of  rug- 
ged hills  and  innumerable  rich  valleys  and  slopes,  well  watered 
and  admirably  suited  for  agriculture.  Craters  of  volcanoes, 
long  since  passed  into  repose,  lava  beds,  and  other  signs  of 
volcanic  action,  are  constantly  met  with. 

The  lakes  are  few  and  very  small,  and  not  many  of  the 
streams  are  navigable  for  more  than  a  few  miles  from  the  sea, 
the  exceptions  being  the  noble  Am-nok,  the  Tai-dong,  the 
Nak-tong,  the  Mok-po,  and  the  Han,  which  last,  rising  in 
Kang-w5n  Do,  30  miles  from  the  Sea  of  Japan,  after  cutting 
the  country  nearly  in  half,  falls  into  the  sea  at  Chemulpo  on 
the  west  coast,  and,  in  spite  of  many  and  dangerous  rapids,  is 
a  valuable  highway  for  commerce  for  over  1 70  miles. 


Introductory    Chapter  15 

Owing  to  the  configuration  of  the  peninsula  there  are  few- 
good  harbors,  but  those  which  exist  are  open  all  the  winter. 
The  finest  are  Fusan  and  Won-san,  on  Broughton  Bay.  Che- 
mulpo, which,  as  the  port  of  Seoul,  takes  the  first  place,  can 
hardly  be  called  a  harbor  at  all,  the  **  outer  harbor,"  where 
large  vessels  and  ships  of  war  lie,  being  nothing  better  than  a 
roadstead,  and  the  "inner  harbor,"  close  to  the  town,  in  the 
fierce  tideway  of  the  estuary  of  the  Han,  is  only  available  for 
five  or  six  vessels  of  small  tonnage  at  a  time.  The  east  coast 
is  steep  and  rocky,  the  water  is  deep,  and  the  tide  rises  and 
falls  from  i  to  2  feet  only.  On  the  southwest  and  west  coasts 
the  tid-e  rises  and  falls  from  26  to  38  feet ! 

Off  the  latter  coasts  there  is  a  remarkable  archipelago.  Some 
of  the  islands  are  bold  masses  of  arid  rock,  the  resort  of  sea- 
fowl  ;  others  are  arable  and  inhabited,  while  the  actual  coast 
fringes  off  into  innumerable  islets,  some  of  which  are  im- 
mersed by  the  spring  tides.  In  the  channels  scoured  among 
these  by  the  tremendous  rush  of  the  tide,  navigation  is  oft- 
times  dangerous.  Great  mud-banks,  specially  near  the  mouths 
of  the  rivers,  render  parts  of  the  coastline  dubious. 

Korea  is  decidedly  a  mountainous  country,  and  has  few 
plains  deserving  the  name.  In  the  north  there  are  mountain 
groups  with  definite  centres,  the  most  remarkable  being  Paik-tu 
San,  which  attains  an  altitude  of  over  8,000  feet,  and  is  re- 
garded as  sacred.  Farther  south  these  settle  into  a  definite 
range,  following  the  coast-line  at  a  moderate  distance,  and 
throwing  out  so  many  ranges  and  spurs  to  the  west  as  to  break 
up  northern  and  central  Korea  into  a  congeries  of  corrugated 
and  precipitous  hills,  either  denuded  or  covered  with  chap- 
paral,  and  narrow,  steep-sided  valleys,  each  furnished  with  a 
stony  stream.  The  great  axial  range,  which  includes  the 
*' Diamond  Mountain,"  a  region  containing  exquisite  moun- 
tain and  sylvan  scenery,  falls  away  as  it  descends  towards  the 
southern  coast,  disintegrating  in  places  into  small  and  often 
infertile  plains. 


l6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  geological  formation  is  fairly  simple.  Mesozoic  rocks 
occur  in  Hwang-hai  Do,  but  granite  and  metamorphic  rocks 
largely  predominate.  Northeast  of  Seoul  are  great  fields  of 
lava,  and  lava  and  volcanic  rocks  are  of  common  occurrence 
in  the  north. 

The  climate  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  finest  and  healthiest 
in  the  world.  Foreigners  are  not  afflicted  by  any  climatic 
maladies,  and  European  children  can  be  safely  brought  up  in 
every  part  of  the  peninsula.  July,  August,  and  sometimes  the 
first  half  of  September,  are  hot  and  rainy,  but  the  heat  is  so 
tempered  by  sea  breezes  that  exercise  is  always  possible.  For 
nine  months  of  the  year  the  skies  are  generally  bright,  and  a 
Korean  winter  is  absolutely  superb,  with  its  still  atmosphere, 
its  bright,  blue,  unclouded  sky,  its  extreme  dryness  without 
asperity,  and  its  crisp,  frosty  nights.  From  the  middle  of 
September  till  the  end  of  June,  there  are  neither  extremes  of 
heat  nor  cold  to  guard  against. 

The  summer  mean  temperature  at  Seoul  is  about  75°  Fah- 
renheit, that  of  the  winter  about  33°;  the  average  rainfall 
36.03  inches  in  the  year,  and  the  average  of  the  rainy  season 
21.86  inches.^  July  is  the  wettest  month,  and  December  the 
driest.  The  result  of  the  abundant  rainfall,  distributed  fairly 
through  the  necessitous  months  of  the  year,  is  that  irrigation 
is  necessary  only  for  the  rice  crop. 

The  fauna  of  Korea  is  considerable,  and  includes  tigers  and 
leopards  in  great  numbers,  bears,  antelopes,  at  least  seven 
species  of  deer,  foxes,  beavers,  otters,  badgers,  tiger-cats,  pigs, 
several  species  of  marten,  a  sable  (not  of  much  value,  how- 
ever), and  striped  squirrels.  Among  birds  there  are  black 
eagles,  found  even  near  Seoul,  harriers,  peregrines  (largely 
used  for  hawking),  pheasants,  swans,  geese,  spectacled  and 
common  teal,  mallards,  mandarin  ducks,  turkey  buzzards  (very 
shy),  white  and  pink   ibis,   sparrow-hawks,  kestrels,  imperial 

'  These  averages  are  only  calculated  on  observations  taken  during  a 
period  of  three  and  a  half  years. 


Introductory    Chapter  17 

cranes,  egrets,  herons,  curlews,  night-jars,  redshanks,  bunt- 
ings, magpies  (common  and  blue),  orioles,  wood  larks, 
thrushes,  redstarts,  crows,  pigeons,  doves,  rooks,  warblers, 
wagtails,  cuckoos,  halcyon  and  bright  blue  kingfishers,  jays, 
snipes,  nut-hatches,  gray  shrikes,  pheasants,  hawks,  and  kites. 
But  until  more  careful  observations  have  been  made  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  which  of  the  smaller  birds  actually  breed  in 
Korea,  and  which  make  it  only  a  halting-place  in  their  annual 
migrations. 

The  denudation  of  the  hills  in  the  neighborhood  of  Seoul, 
the  coasts,  the  treaty  ports,  and  the  main  roads,  is  impressive, 
and  helps  to  give  a  very  unfavorable  idea  of  the  country.  It 
is  to  the  dead  alone  that  the  preservation  of  anything  deserv- 
ing the  name  of  timber  in  much  of  southern  Korea  is  owing. 
But  in  the  mountains. of  the  northern  and  eastern  provinces, 
and  specially  among  those  which  enclose  the  sources  of  the 
Tu-men,  the  Am-nok,  the  Tai-dong,  and  the  Han,  there  are 
very  considerable  forests,  on  which  up  to  this  time  the  wood- 
cutter has  made  little  apparent  impression,  though  a  good  deal 
of  timber  is  annually  rafted  down  these  rivers. 

Among  the  indigenous  trees  are  the  Abies  excelsa,  Abies 
microsperma,  Pinus  sinensis y  Finns  pinea,  three  species  of 
oak,  the  lime,  ash,  birch,  five  species  of  maple,  the  Acantho- 
panax  ricini folia,  Rhus  seniipififiata,  ElcBagmis,  juniper, 
mountain  ash,  hazel,  Thuja  Orientalis  (?),  willow,  Sophora 
Japonica  (?),  hornbeam,  plum,  peach,  Euonymus  alatus,  etc. 
The  flora  is  extensive  and  interesting,  but,  with  the  exception 
of  the  azalea  and  rhododendron,  it  lacks  brilliancy  of  color. 
There  are  several  varieties  of  showy  clematis,  and  the  7niile- 
fleur  rose  smothers  even  large  trees,  but  the  climber  par  ex- 
cellence of  Korea  is  the  Ampelopsis  Veifchi.  The  economic 
plants  are  few,  and,  with  the  exception  of  i\\t  Panax  quinque- 
folia  (ginseng),  the  wild  roots  of  which  are  worth  ^15  per 
ounce,  are  of  no  commercial  value. 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Korea  is  a  vexed  question.     Probably 


i8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

between  the  view  of  the  country  as  an  El  Dorado  and  the  scep- 
ticism as  to  the  existence  of  underground  treasure  at  all,  the 
mean  lies.  Gold  is  little  used  for  personal  ornaments  or  in  the 
arts,  yet  the  Korean  declares  that  the  dust  of  his  country  is 
gold ;  and  the  unquestionable  authority  of  a  Customs'  report 
states  that  gold  dust  to  the  amount  of  ^1,360,279  was  exported 
in  1896,  and  that  it  is  probable  that  the  quantity  which  left 
the  country  undeclared  was  at  least  as  much  again.  Silver  and 
galena  are  found,  copper  is  fairly  plentiful,  and  the  country  is 
rich  in  undeveloped  iron  and  coal  mines,  the  coal  being  of 
excellent  quality.  The  gold-bearing  quartz  has  never  been 
touched,  but  an  American  Company,  having  obtained  a  con- 
cession, has  introduced  machinery,  and  has  gone  to  work  in 
the  province  of  Phyong-an. 

The  manufactures  are  unimportant.  The  best  productions 
are  paper  of  several  qualities  made  from  the  Bronsonettia 
Fapyrifera,  among  which  is  an  oiled  paper,  like  vellum  in 
appearance,  and  so  tough  that  a  man  can  be  raised  from  the 
ground  on  a  sheet  of  it,  lifted  at  the  four  corners,  fine  grass 
mats,  and  split  bamboo  blinds. 

The  arts  are  nil. 

Korea,  or  Ch'ao  Hsien,  has  been  ruled  by  kings  of  the  pres- 
ent dynasty  since  1392.  The  monarchy  is  hereditary,  and 
though  some  modifications  in  a  constitutional  direction  were 
made  during  the  recent  period  of  Japanese  ascendency,  the 
sovereign  is  still  practically  absolute,  his  edicts,  as  in  China, 
constituting  law.  The  suzerainty  of  China,  recognized  since 
very  remote  days,  was  personally  renounced  by  the  king  at  the 
altar  of  the  Spirits  of  the  Land  in  January,  1895,  and  the  com- 
plete independence  of  Korea  was  acknowledged  by  China  in 
the  treaty  of  peace  signed  at  Shimonoseki  in  May  of  the  same 
year.  There  is  a  Council  of  State  composed  of  a  chancellor, 
five  councillors,  six  ministers,  and  a  chief  secretary.  The  de- 
cree of  September,  1896,  which  constitutes  this  body,  an- 
nounces the  king's  absolutism  in  plain  terms  in  the  preamble. 


Introductory    Chapter  19 

There  are  nine  ministers — the  Prime  Minister,  Minister  of  the 
Royal  Household,  of  Finance,  of  Home  Affairs,  Foreign  Affairs, 
War,  Justice,  Agriculture,  and  Education,  but  the  royal  will 
(or  whim)  overrides  their  individual  or  collective  decisions. 

The  Korean  army  consists  of  4,800  men  in  Seoul,  drilled  by 
Russians,  and  1,200  in  the  provinces;  the  navy,  of  two  small 
merchant  steamers. 

Korea  is  divided  into  13  provinces  and  360  magisterial 
districts. 

The  revenue,  which  is  amply  sufficient  for  all  legitimate  ex- 
penses, is  derived  from  Customs'  duties,  under  the  able  and 
honest  management  of  officers  lent  by  the  Chinese  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs :  a  land  tax  of  ^6  on  every  fertile  kyel  (a 
fertile  kyel  being  estimated  at  about  dyi  acres),  and  ^5  on 
every  mountain  kyel ;  a  household  tax  of  60  cents  per  house, 
houses  in  the  capital  enjoying  immunity;  and  a  heavy  excise 
duty  of  $16  per  cattie  on  manufactured  ginseng. 

Up  to  1876  Korea  successfully  preserved  her  isolation,  and 
repelled  with  violence  any  attempt  to  encroach  upon  it.  In 
that  year  Japan  forced  a  treaty  upon  her,  and  in  1882  China  fol- 
lowed with  ''Trade  and  Frontier  Regulations."  The  United 
States  negotiated  a  treaty  in  1882,  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
in  1884,  Russia  and  Italy  in  1886,  and  Austria  in  1892,  in  all 
which,  though  under  Chinese  suzerainty,  Korea  was  treated 
with  as  an  independent  state.  By  these  treaties,  Seoul  and 
the  ports  of  Chemulpo  (Jenchuan),  Fusan,  and  Won-san  (Gen- 
san)  were  opened  to  foreign  commerce,  and  this  year  (1897) 
Mok-po  and  Chinnam-po  have  been  added  to  the  list. 

After  the  treaties  were  signed,  a  swarm  of  foreign  represent- 
atives settled  down  upon  the  capital,  where  three  of  them  are 
housed  in  handsome  and  conspicuous  foreign  buildings.  The 
British  Minister  at  Peking  is  accredited  also  to  the  Korean 
Court,  and  Britain  has  a  resident  Consul-General.  Japan, 
Russia,  and  America  are  represented  by  Ministers,  France  by 
a  Charge  d' Affaires,  and  Germany  by  a  Consul.     China,  which 


20  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

has  been  tardy  in  entering  upon  diplomatic  relations  with  Korea 
since  the  war,  placed  her  subjects  under  the  protection  of  the 
British  Consul-General. 

Until  recently,  the  coinage  of  Korea  consisted  of  debased 
copper  cash,  500  to  the  dollar,  a  great  check  on  business  trans- 
actions ;  but  a  new  fractional  coinage,  of  which  the  unit  is  a 
20-cent  piece,  has  been  put  into  circulation,  along  with  5 -cent 
nickel,  ^-cash  copper,  and  \-cash  brass  pieces.  The  fine  Jap- 
anese yen  or  dollar  is  now  current  everywhere.  The  Dai  Ichi 
Gingo  and  Fifty-eighth  Banks  of  Japan  afford  banking  facili- 
ties in  Seoul  and  the  open  ports. 

In  the  treaty  ports  of  Fusan,  Won-san,  and  Chemulpo,  there 
were  in  January,  1897,  11,318  foreign  residents  and  266  for- 
eign business  firms.  The  Japanese  residents  numbered  10,711, 
and  their  firms  230.  The  great  majority  of  the  American  and 
French  residents  are  missionaries,  and  the  most  conspicuous 
objects  in  Seoul  are  the  Roman  Cathedral  and  the  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  number  of  British  subjects 
in  Korea  in  January,  1897,  was  65,  and  an  agency  of  a  British 
firm  in  Nagasaki  has  recently  been  opened  at  Chemulpo.  The 
approximate  number  of  Chinese  in  Korea  at  the  same  time  was 
2,500,  divided  chiefly  between  Seoul  and  Chemulpo.  There 
is  a  newly-instituted  postal  system  for  the  interior,  with  post- 
age stamps  of  four  denominations,  and  a  telegraph  system, 
Seoul  being  now  in  communication  with  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  roads  are  infamous,  and  even  the  main  roads  are  rarely 
more  than  rough  bridle  tracks.  Goods  are  carried  everywhere 
on  the  backs  of  men,  bulls,  and  ponies,  but  a  railroad  from 
Chemulpo  to  Seoul,  constructed  by  an  American  concession- 
aire, is  actually  to  be  opened  shortly. 

The  language  of  Korea  is  mixed.  The  educated  classes  in- 
troduce Chinese  as  much  as  possible  into  their  conversation, 
and  all  the  literature  of  any  account  is  in  that  language,  but  it  is 
of  an  archaic  form,  the  Chinese  of  1,000  years  ago,  and  differs 
completely  in  pronunciation  from  Chinese  as  now  spoken  in 


Introductory    Chapter  21 

China.  En-mtm,  the  Korean  script,  is  utterly  despised  by  the 
educated,  whose  sole  education  is  in  the  Chinese  classics. 
Korean  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  only  language  of  East- 
ern Asia  which  possesses  an  alphabet.  Only  women,  children, 
and  the  uneducated  used  the  En-mun  till  January,  1895,  when 
a  new  departure  was  made  by  the  official  Gazette,  which  for 
several  hundred  years  had  been  written  in  Chinese,  appearing 
in  a  mixture  of  Chinese  characters  and  En-mun,  a  resemblance 
to  the  Japanese  mode  of  writing,  in  which  the  Chinese  charac- 
ters which  play  the  chief  part  are  connected  by  katia  syllables. 

A  further  innovation  was  that  the  King's  oath  of  Independ- 
ence and  Reform  was  promulgated  in  Chinese,  pure  En-7nun, 
and  the  mixed  script,  and  now  the  latter  is  regularly  employed 
as  the  language  of  ordinances,  official  documents,  and  the 
Gazette  ;  royal  rescripts,  as  a  rule,  and  despatches  to  the  for- 
eign representatives  still  adhering  to  the  old  form. 

This  recognition  of  the  Korean  language  by  means  of  the 
official  use  of  the  mixed,  and  in  some  cases  of  the  pure  script, 
the  abolition  of  the  Chinese  literary  examinations  as  the  test 
of  the  fitness  of  candidates  for  office,  the  use  of  the  "  vulgar  " 
script  exclusively  in  the  Lidependent,  the  new  Korean  news- 
paper, the  prominence  given  to  Korean  by  the  large  body  of 
foreign  missionaries,  and  the  slow  creation  of  scientific  text- 
books and  a  literature  in  En-mun,  are  tending  not  only  to 
strengthen  Korean  national  feeling,  but  to  bring  the  *'  masses," 
who  can  mostly  read  their  own  script,  into  contact  with  West- 
ern science  and  forms  of  thought. 

There  is  no  national  religion.  Confucianism  is  the  official 
cult,  and  the  teachings  of  Confucius  are  the  rule  of  Korean 
morality.  Buddhism,  once  powerful,  but  "  disestablished  " 
three  centuries  ago,  is  to  be  met  with  chiefly  in  mountainous 
districts,  and  far  from  the  main  roads.  Spirit  worship,  a 
species  of  shamanism,  prevails  all  over  the  kingdom,  and 
holds  the  uneducated  masses  and  the  women  of  all  classes  in 
complete  bondage. 


22  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Christian  missions,  chiefly  carried  on  by  Americans,  are  be- 
ginning to  produce  both  direct  and  indirect  effects. 

Ten  years  before  the  opening  ^  of  Korea  to  foreigners,  the 
Korean  king,  in  writing  to  his  suzerain,  the  Emperor  of  China, 
said,  "  The  educated  men  observe  and  practice  the  teachings 
of  Confucius  and  Wen  Wang,"  and  this  fact  is  the  key  to  any- 
thing like  a  correct  estimate  of  Korea.  Chinese  influence  in 
government,  law,  education,  etiquette,  social  relations,  and 
morals  is  predominant.  In  all  these  respects  Korea  is  but  a 
feeble  reflection  of  her  powerful  neighbor ;  and  though  since 
the  war  the  Koreans  have  ceased  to  look  to  China  for  assist- 
ance, their  sympathies  are  with  her,  and  they  turn  to  her  for 
noble  ideals,  cherished  traditions,  and  moral  teachings. 
Their  literature,  superstitions,  system  of  education,  ancestral 
worship,  culture,  and  modes  of  thinking  are  Chinese.  Society 
is  organized  on  Confucian  models,  and  the  rights  of  parents 
over  children,  and  of  elder  over  younger  brothers,  are  as  fully 
recognized  as  in  China. 

It  is  into  this  archaic  condition  of  things,  this  unspeakable 
grooviness,  this  irredeemable,  unreformed  Orientalism,  this 
parody  of  China  without  the  robustness  of  race  which  helps  to 
hold  China  together,  that  the  ferment  of  the  Western  leaven 
has  fallen,  and  this  feeblest  of  independent  kingdoms,  rudely 
shaken  out  of  her  sleep  of  centuries,  half  frightened  and 
wholly  dazed,  finds  herself  confronted  with  an  array  of  power- 
ful, ambitious,  aggressive,  and  not  always  overscrupulous 
powers,  bent,  it  may  be,  on  overreaching  her  and  each  other, 
forcing  her  into  new  paths,  ringing  with  rude  hands  the  knell 
of  time-honored  custom,  clamoring  for  concessions,  and  be- 
wildering her  with  reforms,  suggestions,  and  panaceas,  of 
which  she  sees  neither  the  meaning  nor  the  necessity. 

And  so  '*  The  old  order  changeth,  giving  place  to  new," 
and  many  indications  of  the  transition  will  be  found  in  the 
later  of  the  following  pages. 

1  See  appendix  A. 


CHAPTER  I 

FIRST   IMPRESSIONS   OF   KOREA 

IT  is  but  fifteen  hours'  steaming  from  the  harbor  of  Nagasaki 
to  Fusan  in  Southern  Korea.  The  Island  of  Tsushima, 
where  the  Higo  Maru  calls,  was,  however,  my  last  glimpse  of 
Japan ;  and  its  reddening  maples  and  blossoming  plums,  its 
temple-crowned  heights,  its  stately  flights  of  stone  stairs  lead- 
ing to  Shinto  shrines  in  the  woods,  the  blue-green  masses  of  its 
pines,  and  the  golden  plumage  of  its  bamboos,  emphasized  the 
effect  produced  by  the  brown,  bare  hills  of  Fusan,  pleasant 
enough  in  summer,  but  grim  and  forbidding  on  a  sunless  Feb- 
ruary day.  The  Island  of  the  Interrupted  Shadow,  Chol- 
yong-To,  (Deer  Island),  high  and  grassy,  on  which  the  Jap- 
anese have  established  a  coaling  station  and  a  quarantine  hos- 
pital, shelters  Fusan  harbor. 

It  is  not  Korea  but  Japan  which  meets  one  on  anchoring. 
The  lighters  are  Japanese.  An  official  of  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha  (Japan  Mail  Steamship  Co.),  to  which  the  Higo  Maru 
belongs,  comes  off  with  orders.  The  tide-waiter,  however,  is 
English — one  of  the  English  employes  of  the  Chinese  Imperial 
Maritime  Customs,  lent  to  Korea,  greatly  to  her  advantage,  for 
the  management  of  her  customs'  revenue.  The  foreign  settle- 
ment of  Fusan  is  dominated  by  a  steep  bluff  with  a  Buddhist 
temple  on  the  top,  concealed  by  a  number  of  fine  cryptomeria, 
planted  during  the  Japanese  occupation  in  1592.  It  is  a 
fairly  good-looking  Japanese  town,  somewhat  packed  between 
the  hills  and  the  sea,  with  wide  streets  of  Japanese  shops  and 
various  Anglo-Japanese  buildings,  among  which  the  Consulate 
and  a  Bank  are  the  most  important.     It  has  substantial  retain- 

23 


24  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ing  and  sea  walls,  and  draining,  lighting,  and  roadmaking 
have  been  carried  out  at  the  expense  of  the  municipality. 
Since  the  war,  waterworks  have  been  constructed  by  a  rate  of 
loo  cash  levied  on  each  house,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  present 
abundant  supply  of  pure  water  will  make  an  end  of  the  fre- 
quent epidemics  of  cholera.  Above  the  town,  the  new  Jap- 
anese military  cemetery,  filling  rapidly,  is  the  prominent 
object. 

Considering  that  the  creation  of  a  demand  for  foreign  goods 
is  not  thirteen  years  old,  it  is  amazing  to  find  how  the  Koreans 
have  taken  to  them,  and  that  the  foreign  trade  of  Fusan  has 
developed  so  rapidly  that,  while  in  1885  the  value  of  exports 
and  imports  combined  only  amounted  to  ;£7 7,850,  in  1892  it 
had  reached  ^^346, 608.  Unbleached  shirtings,  lawns,  mus- 
lins, cambrics,  and  Turkey  reds  for  children's  wear  have  all 
captivated  Korean  fancy;  but  the  conservatism  of  wadded  cot- 
ton garments  in  winter  does  not  yield  to  foreign  woollens,  of 
which  the  importation  is  literally  nil.  The  most  amazing 
stride  is  in  the  importation  of  American  kerosene  oil, 
which  has  reached  71,000  gallons  in  a  quarter ;  and  which, 
by  displacing  the  fish-oil  lamp  and  the  dismal  rushlight  in 
the  paper  lantern,  is  revolutionizing  evening  life  in  Korea. 
Matches,  too,  have  *' caught  on"  wonderfully,  and  evidently 
have  *'come  to  stay."  Hides,  beans,  dried  fish,  beche  de 
mevy  rice,  and  whale's  flesh  are  among  the  principal  ex- 
ports. It  was  not  till  1883  that  Fusan  was  officially  opened  to 
general  foreign  trade,  and  its  rise  has  been  most  remarkable. 
In  that  year  its  foreign  population  was  1,500;   in  1897  it  was 

5.564- 

In  the  first  half  of  1885  the  Japan  Mail  Steamship  Co.  ran 
only  one  steamer,  calling  at  Fusan,  to  Wladivostok  every  five 
weeks,  and  a  small  boat  to  Chemulpo,  calling  at  Fusan,  once  a 
month.  Now  not  a  day  passes  without  steamers,  large  or 
small,  arriving  at  the  port,  and  in  addition  to  the  fine  vessels 
of  the    Nippon    Ytisen  Kaisha,  running   frequently  between 


First  Impressions  of  Korea  25 

Kobe  and  Wladivostok,  Shanghai  and  Wladivostok,  Kobe  and 
Tientsin,  and  between  Kobe  Chefoo,  and  Newchang,  all  call- 
ing at  Fusan,  three  other  lines,  including  one  from  Osaka  di- 
rect, and  a  Russian  mail  line  running  between  Shanghai  and 
Wladivostok,  make  Fusan  a  port  of  call. 

It  appears  that  about  one-third  of  the  goods  imported  is  car- 
ried inland  on  the  backs  of  men  and  horses.  The  taxes  levied 
and  the  delays  at  the  barriers  on  both  the  overland  and  river 
routes  are  intolerable  to  traders,  a  hateful  custom  prevailing 
under  which  each  station  is  controlled  by  some  petty  official, 
who,  for  a  certain  sum  paid  to  the  Government  in  Seoul,  ob- 
tains permission  to  levy  taxes  on  all  goods. ^  The  Nak-Tong 
River,  the  mouth  of  which  is  7  miles  from  Fusan,  is  navigable 
for  steamers  drawing  5  feet  of  water  as  far  as  Miriang,  50  miles 
up,  and  for  junks  drawing  4  feet  as  far  as  Sa-mun,  100  miles 
farther,  from  which  point  their  cargoes,  transhipped  into  light 
draught  boats,  can  ascend  to  Sang-chin,  170  miles  from  the 
coast.  With  this  available  waterway,  and  a  hazy  prospect  that 
the  much  disputed  Seoul-Fusan  railway  may  become  an  accom- 
plished fact,  Fusan  bids  fair  to  become  an  important  centre  of 
commerce,  as  the  Kyong-sang  Province,  said  to  be  the  most 
populous  of  the  eight  (now  for  administrative  purposes  thirteen), 
is  also  said  to  be  the  most  prosperous  and  fruitful,  with  the 
possible  exception  of  Chul-la. 

Barren  as  the  neighboring  hills  look,  they  are  probably  rich 
in  minerals.  Gold  is  found  in  several  places  within  a  radius 
of  50  miles,  copper  quite  near,  and  there  are  coal  fields  within 
100  miles. 

To  all  intents  and  purposes  the  settlement  of  Fusan  is  Jap- 
anese.    In  addition  to  the  Japanese  population  of  5,508,  there 

1  According  to  Mr.  Hunt,  the  Commissioner  of  Customs  at  Fusan,  in 
the  Kyong-sang  province  alone  there  are  17  such  stations.  Fusan  is 
hedged  round  by  a  cordon  of  them  within  a  ten-mile  radius,  and  on  the 
Nak-tong,  which  is  the  waterway  to  the  provincial  capital,  there  are  four 
in  a  distance  of  25  miles. 


26  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

is  a  floating  population  of  8,000  Japanese  fishermen.  A 
Japanese  Consul-General  lives  in  a  fine  European  house.  Bank- 
ing facilities  are  furnished  by  the  Dai  Ichi  Gingo  of  Tokio, 
and  the  post  and  telegraph  services  are  also  Japanese.  Japa- 
nese too  is  the  cleanliness  of  the  settlement,  and  the  introduc- 
tion of  industries  unknown  to  Korea,  such  as  rice  husking  and 
cleaning  by  machinery,  whale-fishing,  sake-making,  and  the 
preparation  of  shark's  fins,  deche  de  mer,  and  fish  manure,  the 
latter  an  unsavory  fertilizer,  of  which  enormous  quantities  are 
exported  to  Japan. 

But  the  reader  asks  impatiently,  ''Where  are  the  Koreans? 
I  don't  want  to  read  about  the  Japanese  !  "  Nor  do  I  want  to 
write  about  them,  but  facts  are  stubborn,  and  they  are  the  out- 
standing Fusan  fact. 

As  seen  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer,  a  narrow  up  and  down 
path  keeping  at  some  height  above  the  sea  skirts  the  hillside 
for  3  miles  from  Fusan,  passing  by  a  small  Chinese  settlement 
with  official  buildings,  uninhabited  when  I  last  saw  them,  and 
terminating  in  the  walled  town  of  Fusan  proper,  with  a  fort  of 
very  great  antiquity  outside  it,  modernized  by  the  Japanese 
after  the  engineering  notions  of  three  centuries  ago. 

Seated  on  the  rocks  along  the  shore  were  white  objects  re- 
sembling pelicans  or  penguins,  but  as  white  objects  with  the 
gait  of  men  moved  in  endless  procession  to  and  fro  between 
old  and  new  Fusan,  I  assumed  that  the  seated  objects  were  of 
the  same  species.  The  Korean  makes  upon  one  the  impres- 
sion of  novelty,  and  while  resembling  neither  the  Chinese  nor 
the  Japanese,  he  is  much  better-looking  than  either,  and  his  phy- 
sique is  far  finer  than  that  of  the  latter.  Though  his  average 
height  is  only  5  feet  4^  inches,  his  white  dress,  which  is  vo- 
luminous, makes  him  look  taller,  and  his  high-crowned  hat, 
without  which  he  is  never  seen,  taller  still.  The  men  were  in 
winter  dress — white  cotton  sleeved  robes,  huge  trousers,  and 
socks;  all  wadded.  On  their  heads  were  black  silk  wadded 
caps  with  pendant  sides  edged  with  black  fur,  and  on  the  top 


First  Impressions  of  Korea  27 

of  these,  rather  high-crowned,  somewhat  broad-brimmed  hats 
of  black  ''crinoUne"  or  horsehair  gauze,  tied  under  the  chin 
with  crinoline  ribbon.  The  general  effect  was  grotesque. 
There  were  a  few  children  on  the  path,  bundles  of  gay  cloth- 
ing, but  no  women. 

I  was  accompanied  to  old  Fusan  by  a  charming  English 
«*Una,"  who,  speaking  Korean  almost  like  a  native,  moved 
serenely  through  the  market-day  crowds,  welcomed  by  all.     A 
miserable  place  I  thought  it,  and  later  experience  showed  that 
it  was  neither  more  nor  less  miserable  than  the  general  run  of 
Korean  towns.     Its  narrow  dirty  streets  consist  of  low  hovels 
built  of  mud-smeared  wattle  without  windows,  straw  roofs,  and 
deep  eaves,  a  black  smoke  hole  in  every  wall  2  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  outside  most  are  irregular  ditches  containing  solid 
and  liquid  refuse.     Mangy  dogs  and  blear-eyed  children,  half 
or  wholly  naked,  and  scaly  with  dirt,  roll  in  the  deep  dust  or 
slime,  or  pant  and  blink  in  the  sun,  apparently  unaffected  by 
the  stenches  which  abound.     But  market  day  hid  much  that  is 
repulsive.     Along   the   whole   length   of  the   narrow,  dusty, 
crooked  street,  the  wares  were  laid  out  on  mats  on  the  ground, 
a  man  or  an  old  woman,  bundled  up  in  dirty  white  cotton, 
guarding  each.     And  the  sound  of  bargaining  rose  high,  and 
much  breath  was  spent  on  beating  down  prices,  which  did  not 
amount  originally  to  the  tenth  part  of  a  farthing.     The  goods 
gave  an   impression  of  poor  buyers  and  small  trade.     Short 
lengths  of  coarse  white  cotton,  skeins  of  cotton,  straw  shoes, 
wooden  combs,  tobacco  pipes  and  pouches,  dried  fish  and  sea- 
weed, cord  for  girdles,  paper  rough  and  smooth,  and  barley- 
sugar  nearly  black,  were  the  contents  of  the  mats.      I  am  sure 
that  the  most  valuable  stock-in-trade  there  was  not  worth  more 
than  three  dollars.     Each  vendor  had  a  small  heap  of  cash 
beside  him,  an  uncouth  bronze  coin  with  a  square  hole  in  the 
centre,    of  which   at  that  time  3,200  iwviinally  went  to  the 
dollar,  and  which  greatly  trammelled  and  crippled   Korean 
trade. 


28  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

A  market  is  held  in  Fusan  and  in  many  other  places  every 
fifth  day.  On  these  the  country  people  rely  for  all  which  they 
do  not  produce,  as  well  as  for  the  sale  or  barter  of  their  pro- 
ductions. Practically  there  are  no  shops  in  the  villages  and 
small  towns,  their  needs  being  supplied  on  stated  days  by 
travelling  pedlars  who  form  a  very  influential  guild. 

Turning  away  from  the  bustle  of  the  main  street  into  a  nar- 
row, dirty  alley,  and  then  into  a  native  compound,  I  found  the 
three  Australian  ladies  who  were  the  objects  of  my  visit  to  this 
decayed  and  miserable  town.  Except  that  the  compound  was 
clean,  it  was  in  no  way  distinguishable  from  any  other,  being 
surrounded  by  mud  hovels.  In  one  of  these,  exposed  to  the 
full  force  of  the  southern  sun,  these  ladies  were  living.  The 
mud  walls  were  concealed  with  paper,  and  photographs  and 
other  European  knickknacks  conferred  a  look  of  refinement. 
But  not  only  were  the  rooms  so  low  that  one  of  the  ladies 
could  not  stand  upright  in  them,  but  privacy  was  impossible, 
invasions  of  Korean  women  and  children  succeeding  each 
other  from  morning  to  night,  so  that  even  dressing  was  a 
spectacle  for  the  curious.  Friends  urged  these  ladies  not  to 
take  this  step  of  living  in  a  Korean  town  3  miles  from  Euro- 
peans. It  was  represented  that  it  was  not  safe,  and  that  their 
health  would  suffer  from  the  heat  and  fetid  odors  of  the 
crowded  neighborhood,  etc.  In  truth  it  was  not  a  **  conven- 
tional thing  "  to  do. 

On  my  first  visit  I  found  them  well  and  happy.  Small  chil- 
dren were  clinging  to  their  skirts,  and  a  certain  number  of 
women  had  been  induced  to  become  cleanly  in  their  persons 
and  habits.  All  the  neighbors  were  friendly,  and  rude  re- 
marks in  the  streets  had  altogether  ceased.  Many  of  the 
women  resorted  to  them  for  medical  help,  and  the  simple  aid 
they  gave  brought  them  much  good-will.  This  friendly  and 
civilizing  influence  was  the  result  of  a  year  of  living  under 
very  detestable  circumstances.  If  they  had  dwelt  in  grand 
houses  2^  miles  off  upon  the  hill,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  re- 


First  Impressions  of  Korea  29 

suit  would  have  been  ;///.  Without  any  fuss  or  blowing  of 
trumpets,  they  quietly  helped  to  solve  one  of  the  great  prob- 
lems as  to  "  Missionary  Methods,"  though  why  it  should  be  a 
*'  problem  "  I  fail  to  see.  In  the  East  at  least,  every  religious 
teacher  who  has  led  the  people  has  lived  among  them,  know- 
ing if  not  sharing  their  daily  lives,  and  has  been  easily  acces- 
sible at  all  times.  It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  a  Buddha  or  One 
greater  than  Buddha  only  reached  by  favor  of,  and  possibly  by 
feeing,  a  gate-keeper  or  servant. 

On  visiting  them  a  year  later  I  found  them  still  well  and 
happy.  The  excitement  among  the  Koreans  consequent  on 
the  Tong-hak  rebellion  and  the  war  had  left  them  unmolested. 
A  Japanese  regiment  had  encamped  close  to  them,  and,  by 
permission,  had  drawn  water  from  the  well  in  their  compound, 
and  had  shown  them  nothing  but  courtesy.  Having  in  two 
years  gained  general  confidence  and  good-will,  they  built 
a  small  bungalow  just  above  the  old  native  house,  which  has 
been  turned  into  a  very  primitive  orphanage. 

The  people  were  friendly  and  kind  from  the  first.  Those 
who  were  the  earliest  friends  of  the  ladies  are  their  staunchest 
friends  now,  and  they  knew  them  and  their  aims  so  well  when 
they  moved  into  their  new  house  that  it  made  no  difference  at 
all.  Some  go  there  to  see  the  ladies,  others  to  see  the  furni- 
ture or  hear  the  organ,  and  a  few  to  inquire  about  the  '*  Jesus 
doctrine."  The  "mission  work"  now  consists  of  daily  meet- 
ings for  worship,  classes  for  applicants  for  baptism,  classes  at 
night  for  those  women  who  may  not  come  out  in  the  daytime, 
a  Sunday  school  with  an  attendance  of  eighty,  visiting  among 
the  people,  and  giving  instruction  in  the  country  and  surround- 
ing villages.  About  forty  adults  have  professed  Christianity, 
and  regularly  attend  Christian  worship. 

I  mention  these  facts  not  for  the  purpose  of  glorifying  these 
ladies,  who  are  simply  doing  their  duty,  but  because  they 
fall  in  with  a  theory  of  my  own  as  to  methods  of  mission 
work. 


3©  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

There  is  a  very  small  Roman  Catholic  mission-house,  seldom 
tenanted,  between  the  two  Fusans.  In  the  province  of  Kyong- 
sang  in  which  they  are,  there  are  Roman  missions  which  claim 
2,000  converts,  and  to  promulgate  Christianity  in  thirty  towns 
and  villages.  There  are  two  foreign  priests,  who  spend  most 
of  the  year  in  teaching  in  the  provincial  villages,  living  in 
Korean  huts,  in  Korean  fashion,  on  Korean  food. 

A  coarse  ocean  with  a  distinct  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  blue  water  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  and  the  discoloration  of  the 
Yellow  Sea,  harsh,  grim,  rocky,  brown  islands,  mostly  unin- 
habited— two  monotonously  disagreeable  days,  more  islands, 
muddier  water,  an  estuary  and  junks,  and  on  the  third  after- 
noon from  Fusan  the  Higo  Maru  anchored  in  the  roadstead 
of  Chemulpo,  the  seaport  of  Seoul.  This  cannot  pretend  to 
be  a  harbor,  indeed  most  of  the  roadstead,  such  as  it  is,  is  a 
slimy  mud  flat  for  much  of  the  day,  the  tide  rising  and  falling 
36  feet.  The  anchorage,  a  narrow  channel  in  the  shallows,  can 
accommodate  five  vessels  of  moderate  size.  Yet  though  the 
mud  was  eji  evidence^  and  the  low  hill  behind  the  town  was 
dull  brown,  and  a  drizzling  rain  was  falling,  I  liked  the  look  of 
Chemulpo  better  than  I  expected,  and  after  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  it  in  various  seasons  and  circumstances,  I  came 
to  regard  it  with  very  friendly  feelings.  As  seen  from  the 
roadstead,  it  is  a  collection  of  mean  houses,  mostly  of  wood, 
painted  white,  built  along  the  edge  of  the  sea  and  straggling 
up  a  verdureless  hill,  the  whole  extending  for  more  than  a 
mile  from  a  low  point  on  which  are  a  few  trees,  crowned  by 
the  English  Vice-Consulate,  a  comfortless  and  unworthy  build- 
ing, to  a  hill  on  which  are  a  large  decorative  Japanese  tea- 
house, a  garden,  and  a  Shinto  shrine.  Salient  features  there 
are  none,  unless  the  house  of  a  German  merchant,  an  English 
church,  the  humble  buildings  of  Bishop  Corfe's  mission  on  the 
hill,  the  large  Japanese  Consulate,  and  some  new  municipal 
buildings  on  a  slope,  may  be  considered  such.  As  at  Fusan, 
an  English  tide-waiter  boarded  the  ship,  and  a  foreign  harbor- 


First  Impressions  of  Korea  31 

master  berthed  her,  while  a  Japanese  clerk  gave  the  captain 
his  orders. 

Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  acting  British  Vice-Consul,  came  off  for 
me,  and  entertained  me  then  and  on  two  subsequent  occasions 
with  great  hospitality,  but  as  the  Vice-Consailate  had  at  that 
time  no  guest-room,  I  slept  at  a  Chinese  inn,  known  as 
**  Steward's,"  kept  by  Itai,  an  honest  and  helpful  man  who 
does  all  he  can  to  make  his  guests  comfortable,  and  partially 
succeeds.  This  inn  is  at  the  corner  of  the  main  street  of  the 
Chinese  quarter,  in  a  very  lively  position,  as  it  also  looks  down 
the  main  street  of  the  Japanese  settlement.  The  Chinese  set- 
tlement is  solid,  with  a  hsuidsome  y amen  and  guild  hall,  and 
rows  of  thriving  and  substantial  shops.  Busy  and  noisy  with 
the  continual  letting  off  of  crackers  and  beating  of  drums  and 
gongs,  the  Chinese  were  obviously  far  ahead  of  the  Japanese 
in  trade.  They  had  nearly  a  monopoly  of  the  foreign  '*  cus- 
tom "  ;  their  large  "houses"  in  Chemulpo  had  branches  in 
Seoul,  and  if  there  were  any  foreign  requirement  which  they 
could  not  meet,  they  procured  the  article  from  Shanghai  with- 
out loss  of  time.  The  haulage  of  freight  to  Seoul  was  in  their 
hands,  and  the  market  gardening,  and  much  besides.  Late 
into  the  night  they  were  at  work,  and  they  used  the  roadway 
for  drying  hides  and  storing  kerosene  tins  and  packing  cases. 
Scarcely  did  the  noise  of  night  cease  when  the  din  of  morning 
began.  To  these  hard-working  and  money-making  people  rest 
seemed  a  superfluity. 

The  Japanese  settlement  is  far  more  populous,  extensive, 
and  pretentious.  Their  Consulate  is  imposing  enough  for  a 
legation.  They  have  several  streets  of  small  shops,  which 
supply  the  needs  chiefly  of  people  of  their  own  nationality,  for 
foreigners  patronize  Ah  Wong  and  Itai,  and  the  Koreans,  who 
hate  the  Japanese  with  a  hatred  three  centuries  old,  also  deal 
chiefly  with  the  Chinese.  But  though  the  Japanese  were  out- 
stripped in  trade  by  the  Chinese,  their  position  in  Korea,  even 
before  the  war,  was  an   influential  one.     They  gave  "  postal 


32  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

facilities"  between  the  treaty  ports  and  Seoul  and  carried  the 
foreign  mails,  and  they  established  branches  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank '  in  the  capital  and  treaty  ports,  with  which  the 
resident  foreigners  have  for  years  transacted  their  business,  and 
in  which  they  have  full  confidence.  I  lost  no  time  in  opening 
an  account  with  this  Bank  in  Chemulpo,  receiving  an  English 
check-book  and  pass-book,  and  on  all  occasions  courtesy  and 
all  needed  help.  Partly  owing  to  the  fact  that  English  cot- 
tons for  Korea  are  made  in  bales  too  big  for  the  Lilliputian 
Korean  pony,  involving  reduction  to  more  manageable  dimen- 
sions on  being  landed,  and  partly  to  causes  which  obtain  else- 
where, the  Japanese  are  so  successfully  pushing  their  cottons 
in  Korea,  that  while  they  constituted  only  3  per  cent,  of  the 
imports  in  1887,  they  had  risen  to  something  like  40  per  cent, 
in  1894.^  There  is  a  rapidly  growing  demand  for  yarn  to  be 
woven  on  native  looms.  The  Japanese  are  well  to  the  front 
with  steam  and  sailing  tonnage.  Of  198  steamers  entered  in- 
wards in  1893,  132  were  Japanese;  and  out  of  325  sailing 
vessels,  232  were  Japanese.  It  is  on  record  that  an  English 
merchantman  was  once  seen  in  Chemulpo  roads,  but  actually 
the  British  mercantile  flag,  unless  on  a  chartered  steamer,  is 
not  known  in  Korean  waters.  Nor  was  there  in  1894  an 
English  merchant  in  the  Korean  treaty  ports,  or  an  English 
house  of  business,  large  or  small,  in  Korea. 

Just  then  rice  was  in  the  ascendant.  Japan  by  means  of 
pressure  had  induced  the  Korean  Government  to  consent  to 
suspend  the  decree  forbidding  its  export,  and  on  a  certain 
date  the  sluices  were  to  be  opened.  Stacks  of  rice  bags 
covered  the  beach,  rice  in  bulk  being  measured  into  bags  was 
piled  on  mats  in  the  roadways,  ponies  and  coolies  rice-laden 
filed  in  strings  down  the  streets,  while  in  the  roadstead  a  num- 
ber of  Japanese  steamers  and  junks  awaited  the  taking  off  the 
embargo  at  midnight  on  6th  March.     A  regular  rice  babel 

•  Now  the  Dai  Ichi  Gingo. 

'  For  latest  trade  statistics  see  appendix  B. 


First  Impressions  of  Korea  33 

prevailed  in  the  town  and  on  the  beach,  and  much  disaffection 
prevailed  among  the  Koreans  at  the  rise  in  the  price  of  their 
staple  article  of  diet.  Japanese  agents  scoured  the  whole 
country  for  rice,  and  every  cattie  of  it  which  could  be  spared 
from  consumption  was  bought  in  preparation  for  the  war  of 
wdiich  no  one  in  Korea  dreamed  at  that  time.  The  rice  bustle 
gave  Chemulpo  an  appearance  of  a  thriving  trade  which  it  is 
not  wont  to  have  except  in  the  Chinese  settlement.  Its  foreign 
population  in  1897  was  4,357. 

The  reader  may  wonder  where  the  Koreans  are  at  Che- 
mulpo, and  in  truth  1  had  almost  forgotten  them,  for  they  are  of 
little  account.  The  increasing  native  town  lies  outside  the 
Japanese  settlement  on  the  Seoul  road,  clustering  round  the 
base  of  the  hill  on  which  the  English  church  stands,  and 
scrambling  up  it,  mud  hovels  planting  themselves  on  every 
ledge,  attained  by  filthy  alleys,  swarming  with  quiet  dirty 
children,  who  look  on  the  high-road  to  emulate  the  do-less Jiess 
of  their  fathers.  Korean,  too,  is  the  official  yamen  at  the  top 
of  the  hill,  and  Korean  its  methods  of  punishment,  its  brutal 
flagellations  by  yameii  runners,  its  beating  of  criminals  to 
death,  their  howls  of  anguish  penetrating  the  rooms  of  the  ad- 
jacent English  mission,  and  Korean  too  are  the  bribery  and 
corruption  which  make  it  and  nearly  every  yame?i  sinks  of  in- 
iquity. The  gate  with  its  double  curved  roofs  and  drum 
chamber  over  the  gateway  remind  the  stranger  that  though  the 
capital  and  energy  of  Chemulpo  are  foreign,  the  government 
is  native.  Not  Korean  is  the  abode  of  mercy  on  the  other 
side  of  the  road  from  the  yamen,  the  hospital  connected  with 
Bishop  Corfe's  mission,  where  in  a  small  Korean  building  the 
sick  are  received,  tended,  and  generally  cured  by  Dr.  Landis, 
who  himself  lives  as  a  Korean  in  rooms  8  feet  by  6,  studying, 
writing,  eating,  without  chair  or  table,  and  accessible  at  all 
times  to  all  comers.  The  6,700  inhabitants  of  the  Korean 
town,  or  rather  the  male  half  of  them,  are  always  on  the  move. 
The  narrow  roads  are  always  full  of  them,  sauntering  along  in 


34 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


their  dress  bats,  not  apparently  doing  anything.  It  is  old 
Fusan  over  again,  except  that  there  are  permanent  shops,  with 
stocks-in-trade  worth  from  one  to  twenty  dollars;  and  as  an 
hour  is  easily  spent  over  a  transaction  involving  a  few  cash, 
there  is  an  appearance  of  business  kept  up.  In  the  settlement 
the  Koreans  work  as  porters  and  carry  preposterous  weights  on 
their  wooden  packsaddles. 


■-V"' 


^e.\h  -^^-'^A 


GATE  OF  OLD  FUSAN 


CHAPTER  II 

FIRST    IMPRESSIONS    OF    THE   CAPITAL 

CHEMULPO,  being  on  the  island-studded  estuary  of  the 
Han,  which  is  navigable  for  the  56  miles  up  to  Ma-pu, 
the  river  port  of  Seoul,  it  eventually  occurred  to  some  persons 
more  enterprising  than  their  neighbors  to  establish  steam  com- 
munication between  the  two.  Manifold  are  the  disasters  which 
have  attended  this  simple  undertaking.  Nearly  every  passen- 
ger who  has  entrusted  himself  to  the  river  has  a  tale  to  tell  of 
the  boat  being  deposited  on  a  sandbank,  and  of  futile  endeav- 
ors to  get  off,  of  fretting  and  fuming,  usually  ending  in  hail- 
ing a  passing  sajnpan  and  getting  up  to  Ma-pu  many  hours  be- 
hind time,  tired,  hungry,  and  disgusted.  For  the  steam 
launches  are  only  half  powered  for  their  work,  the  tTdes  are 
strong,  the  river  shallows  often,  and  its  sandbanks  shift  almost 
from  tide  to  tide.  Hence  this  natural  highway  is  not  much 
patronized  by  people  who  respect  themselves,  and  all  sorts  of 
arrangements  are  made  for  getting  up  to  the  capital  by  "road." 
There  is,  properly  speaking,  no  road,  but  the  word  serves. 
Mr.  Gardner,  the  British  acting  Consul-General  in  Seoul, 
kindly  arranged  to  escort  me  the  25  miles,  and  I  went  up  in 
seven  hours  in  a  chair  with  six  bearers,  jolly  fellows,  who 
joked  and  laughed  and  raced  the  Consul's  pony.  Traffic  has 
worn  for  itself  a  track,  often  indefinite,  but  usually  straggling 
over  and  sterilizing  a  width  enough  for  three  or  four  highways, 
and  often  making  a  new  departure  to  avoid  deep  mud  holes. 
The  mud  is  nearly  bottomless.  Bullock-carts  owned  by  Chi- 
nese attempt  the  transit  of  goods,  and  two  or  three  embedded 
in  the  mud  till  the  spring  showed  with  what  success.     Near 

35 


36  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Ma-pu  all  traffic  has  to  cross  a  small  plain  of  deep  sand.  Pack 
bulls,  noble  animals,  and  men  are  the  carriers  of  goods.  The 
redoubtable  Korean  pony  was  not  to  be  seen.  Foot  passen- 
gers in  dress  hats  and  wadded  white  garments  were  fairly 
numerous. 

The  track  lies  through  rolling  country,  well  cultivated. 
There  are  only  two  or  three  villages  on  the  road,  but  there  are 
many,  surrounded  by  fruit  trees,  in  the  folds  of  the  adjacent 
low  hills;  stunted  pines  {Finns  sinensis)  abound,  and  often 
indicate  places  of  burial.  The  hillsides  are  much  taken  up 
with  graves.  There  are  wooden  sign  or  distant  posts,  with 
grotesque  human  faces  upon  them,  chiefly  that  of  Chang  Sun, 
a  traitor,  whose  misdemeanors  were  committed  1,000  years 
ago.  The  general  aspect  of  the  country  is  bare  and  monot- 
onous. Except  for  the  orchards  and  the  spindly  pines,  there 
is  no  wood.  There  is  no  beauty  of  form,  nor  any  of  those 
signs  of  exclusiveness,  such  as  gates  or  walls,  which  give  some- 
thing of  dignity  to  a  landscape.  These  were  my  first  impres- 
sions. But  I  came  to  see  on  later  journeys  that  even  on  that 
road  th^re  can  be  a  beauty  and  fascination  in  the  scenery  when 
glorified  and  idealized  by  the  unrivalled  atmosphere  of  a 
Korean  winter,  which  it  is  a  delight  even  to  recall,  and  that 
the  situation  of  Seoul  for  a  sort  of  weird  picturesqueness  com- 
pares favorably  with  that  of  almost  any  other  capital,  but  its 
orientalism,  a  marked  feature  of  which  was  its  specially  self- 
asserting  dirt,  is  being  fast  improved  off  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

From  the  low  pass  known  as  the  Gap,  there  is  a  view  of  the 
hills  in  the  neighborhood  of  Seoul,  and  before  reaching  the 
Han  these,  glorified  and  exaggerated  by  an  effect  of  atmos- 
phere, took  on  something  of  grandeur.  Crossing  the  Han  in 
a  scow  to  which  my  chair  accommodated  itself  more  readily 
than  Mr.  Gardner's  pony,  and  encountering  ferry  boats  full  of 
pack  bulls  bearing  the  night  soil  of  the  city  to  the  country, 
we  landed  on  the  rough,  steep,  filthy,  miry  river  bank,  and 


First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  37 

were  at  once  in  the  foul,  narrow,  slimy,  rough  street  of  Ma-pu, 
a  twisted  alley  full  of  mean  shops  for  the  sale  of  native  com- 
modities, of  bulls  carrying  mountains  of  brushwood  which 
nearly  filled  up  the  roadway  ;  and  with  a  crowd,  masculine 
solely,  which  swayed  and  loafed,  and  did  nothing  in  particu- 
lar. Some  quiet  agricultural  country,  and  some  fine  trees,  a 
resemblance  to  the  land  of  the  Bakhtiari  Lurs,  in  the  fact  of 
one  man  working  a  spade  or  shovel,  while  three  others  helped 
him  to  turn  up  the  soil  by  an  arrangement  of  ropes,  then  two 
chairs  with  bearers  in  blue  uniforms,  carrying  Mrs.  and  Miss 
Gardner,  accompanied  by  Bishop  Corfe,  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown, 
the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Korean  Customs,  and  Mr.  Fox, 
the  Assistant  Consul,  then  the  hovels  and  alleys  became  thick, 
and  we  were  in  extra-mural  Seoul.  A  lofty  wall,  pierced  by  a 
deep  double-roofed  gateway,  was  passed,  and  ten  minutes  more 
of  miserable  alleys  brought  us  to  a  breezy  hill,  crowned  by 
the  staring  red  brick  buildings  of  the  English  Legation  and 
Consular  offices. 

The  Russian  Legation  has  taken  another  and  a  higher,  and 
its  loftly  tower  and  fine  facade  are  the  most  conspicuous  objects 
in  the  city,  while  a  third  is  covered  with  buildings,  some 
Korean  and  tasteful,  but  others  in  a  painful  style  of  architec- 
ture, a  combination  of  the  factory  with  the  meeting-house,  be- 
longing to  the  American  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission,  the 
American  Presbyterians  occupying  a  humbler  position  below. 
A  hill  on  the  other  side  of  the  town  is  dedicated  to  Japan,  and 
so  in  every  part  of  the  city  the  foreigner,  shut  out  till  1883,  is 
making  his  presence  felt,  and  is  undermining  that  which  is 
Korean  in  the  Korean  capital  by  the  slow  process  of  contact. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  indications  of  tlie  changes 
which  is  stealing  over  the  Hermit  City  is  tliat  a  nearly  finished 
Roman  Catholic  Cathedral,  of  very  large  size,  witli  a  clergy- 
house  and  orphanages,  occupies  one  of  the  most  prominent 
positions  in  Seoul.  The  King's  father,  the  Tai-Won-Kun, 
still  actively  engaged  in  politics,  is  the  man  who,  thirty  years 


38  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ago,  persecuted  the  Roman  Christians  so  cruelly  and  persist- 
ently as  to  raise  up  for  Korea  a  "  noble  army  of  martyrs." 

I  know  Seoul  by  day  and  night,  its  palaces  and  its  slums, 
its  unspeakable  meanness  and  faded  splendors,  its  purposeless 
crowds,  its  mediaeval  processions,  which  for  barbaric  splendor 
cannot  be  matched  on  earth,  the  filth  of  its  crowded  alleys, 
and  its  pitiful  attempt  to  retain  its  manners,  customs,  and 
identity  as  the  capital  of  an  ancient  monarchy  in  face  of  the 
host  of  disintegrating  influences  which  are  at  work,  but  it  is 
not  at  first  that  one  ''  takes  it  in."  I  had  known  it  for  a  year 
before  I  appreciated  it,  or  fully  realized  that  it  is  entitled  to  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  great  capitals  of  the  world,  with  its 
supposed  population  of  a  quarter  of  a  million,  and  that  few 
capitals  are  more  beautifully  situated.^  One  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  above  the  sea,  in  Lat.  37°  34'  N.  and  Long.  127° 
6'  E.,  mountain  girdled,  for  the  definite  peaks  and  abrupt 
elevation  of  its  hills  give  them  the  grandeur  of  mountains, 
though  their  highest  summit,  San-kak-San,  has  only  an  altitude 
of  2,627  feet,  few  cities  can  boast,  as  Seoul  can,  that  tigers 
and  leopards  are  shot  within  their  walls  !  Arid  and  forbid- 
ding these  mountains  look  at  times,  their  ridges  broken  up 
into  black  crags  and  pinnacles,  ofttimes  rising  from  among  dis- 
torted pines,  but  there  are  evenings  of  purple  glory,  when 
every  forbidding  peak  gleams  like  an  amethyst  with  a  pink 
translucency,  and  the  shadows  are  cobalt  and  the  sky  is  green 
and  gold.  Fair  are  the  surroundings  too  in  early  spring,  when 
a  delicate  green  mist  veils  the  hills,  and  their  sides  are  flushed 
with  the  heliotrope  azalea,  and  flame  of  plum,  and  blush  of 
cherry,  and  tremulousness  of  peach  blossom  appear  in  un- 
expected quarters. 

Looking  down  on  this  great  city,  which  has  the  aspect  of  a 
lotus  pond  in   November,  or  an  expanse  of  overripe    mush- 

I  By  a  careful  census  taken  in  February,  1897,  ^^^  intra-mural  popula- 
tion of  Seoul  was  144,636  souls,  and  the  extra-mural  75,189,  total  219,- 
815,  males  predominating  to  the  extent  of  11,079. 


o 

D 

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First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  39 

rooms,  the  eye  naturally  follows  the  course  of  the  wall,  which 
is  discerned  in  most  outlandish  places,  climbing  Nam-San  in 
one  direction,  and  going  clear  over  the  crest  of  Puk-han  in 
another,  enclosing  a  piece  of  forest  here,  and  a  vacant  plain 
there,  descending  into  ravines,  disappearing  and  reappearing 
when  least  expected.  This  wall,  which  contrives  to  look 
nearly  as  solid  as  the  hillsides  which  it  climbs,  is  from  25  to 
40  feet  in  height,  and  14  miles  in  circumference  (according  to 
Mr.  Fox  of  H.B.M.'s  Consular  Service),  battlemented  along 
its  entire  length,  and  pierced  by  eight  gateways,  solid  arches 
or  tunnels  of  stone,  surmounted  by  lofty  gate  houses  with  one, 
two,  or  three  curved  tiled  roofs.  These  are  closed  from  sunset 
to  sunrise  by  massive  wooden  gates,  heavily  bossed  and  strength- 
ened with  iron,  bearing,  following  Chinese  fashion,  high- 
sounding  names,  such  as  the  "  Gate  of  Bright  Amiability," 
the  "  Gate  of  High  Ceremony,"  the  "  Gate  of  Elevated  Hu- 
manity." 

The  wall  consists  of  a  bank  of  earth  faced  with  masonry, 
or  of  solid  masonry  alone,  and  is  on  the  whole  in  tolerable 
repair.  It  is  on  the  side  nearest  the  river,  and  onwards  in  the 
direction  of  the  Peking  Pass,  that  extra-mural  Seoul  has  ex- 
panded. One  gate  is  the  Gate  of  the  Dead,  only  a  royal 
corpse  being  permitted  to  be  carried  out  by  any  other.  By 
another  gate  criminals  passed  out  to  be  beheaded,  and  outside 
another  their  heads  were  exposed  for  some  days  after  execu- 
tion, hanging  from  camp-kettle  stands.  The  north  gate,  high 
on  Puk-han,  is  kept  closed,  only  to  be  opened  in  case  the  King 
is  compelled  to  escape  to  one  of  the  so-called  fortresses  on  that 
mountain. 

Outside  the  wall  is  charming  country,  broken  into  hills  and 
wooded  valleys,  with  knolls  sacrificed  to  stately  royal  tombs, 
with  their  environment  of  fine  trees,  and  villages  in  romantic 
positions  among  orchards  and  garden  cultivation.  Few 
Eastern  cities  have  prettier  walks  and  rides  in  their  immediate 
neighborhood,    or   greater  possibilities  of   rapid   escape  into 


40  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

sylvan  solitudes,  and  I  must  add  that  no  city  has  environs  so 
safe,  and  that  ladies  without  a  European  escort  can  ride,  as  I 
have  done,  in  every  direction  outside  the  walls  without  meet- 
ing with  the  slightest  annoyance. 

I  shrink  from  describing  intra-mural  Seoul. ^  I  thought  it 
the  foulest  city  on  earth  till  I  saw  Peking,  and  its  smells  the 
most  odious,  till  I  encountered  those  of  Shao-shing  !  For  a 
great  city  and  a  capital  its  meanness  is  indescribable.  Eti- 
quette forbids  the  erection  of  two-storied  houses,  consequently 
an  estimated  quarter  of  a  million  people  are  living  on  "the 
ground,"  chiefly  in  labyrinthine  alleys,  many  of  them  not 
wide  enough  for  two  loaded  bulls  to  pass,  indeed  barely  wide 
enough  for  one  man  to  pass  a  loaded  bull,  and  further  narrowed 
by  a  series  of  vile  holes  or  green,  slimy  ditches,  which  receive 
the  solid  and  liquid  refuse  of  the  houses,  their  foul  and  fetid 
margins  being  the  favorite  resort  of  half-naked  children,  be- 
grimed with  dirt,  and  of  big,  mangy,  blear-eyed  dogs,  which 
wallow  in  the  slime  or  blink  in  the  sun.  There  too  the  itin- 
erant vendor  of  "small  wares,"  and  candies  dyed  flaring 
colors  with  aniline  dyes,  establishes  himself,  puts  a  few  planks 
across  the  ditch,  and  his  goods,  worth  perhaps  a  dollar, 
thereon.  But  even  Seoul  has  its  "  spring  cleaning,"  and  I  en- 
countered on  the  sand  plain  of  the  Han,  on  the  ferry,  and  on 
the  road  from  Ma-pu  to  Seoul,  innumerable  bulls  carrying  pan- 
niers laden  with  the  contents  of  the  city  ditches. 

The  houses  abutting  on  these  ditches  are  generally  hovels 
with  deep  eaves  and  thatched  roofs,  presenting  nothing  to  the 
street  but  a  mud  wall,  with  occasionally  a  small  paper  window 
just  under  the  roof,  indicating  the  men's  quarters,  and  invari- 
ably, at  a  height  varying   from   2  to  3  feet  above  the  ditch,  a 

J  Nous  avons  change  tout  cela.  As  will  be  seen  from  a  chapter  near 
the  end  of  the  book,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Customs,  energetically 
seconded  by  the  Governor  of  Seoul,  has  worked  surprising  improvements 
and  sanitary  changes  which,  if  carried  out  perseveringly,  will  redeem  the 
capital  from  the  charges  which  travellers  have  brought  against  it. 


First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  41 

blackened  smoke-hole,  the  vent  for  the  smoke  and  heated  air, 
which  have  done  their  duty  in  warming  the  floor  of  the  house. 
All  day  long  bulls  laden  with  bruslnvood  to  a  great  height  are 
entering  the  city,  and  at  six  o'clock  this  pine  brush,  preparing 
to  do  the  cooking  and  warming  for  the  population,  fills  every 
lane  in  Seoul  with  aromatic  smoke,  which  hangs  over  it  with 
remarkable  punctuality.  Even  the  superior  houses,  which  have 
curved  and  tiled  roofs,  present  nothing  better  to  the  street  than 
this  debased  appearance. 

The  shops  partake  of  the  general  meanness.  Shops  with  a 
stock-in-trade  which  may  be  worth  six  dollars  abound.  It  is 
easy  to  walk  in  Seoul  without  molestation,  but  any  one  stand- 
ing to  look  at  anything  attracts  a  great  crowd,  so  that  it  is  as 
well  that  there  is  nothing  to  look  at.  The  shops  have  literally 
not  a  noteworthy  feature.  Their  one  characteristic  is  that 
they  have  none  !  The  best  shops  are  near  the  Great  Bell,  be- 
side which  formerly  stood  a  stone  with  an  inscription  calling 
on  all  Koreans  to  put  intruding  foreigners  to  death.  So  small 
are  they  that  all  goods  are  within  reach  of  the  hand.  In  one 
of  the  three  broad  streets,  there  are  double  rows  of  removable 
booths,  in  which  now  and  then  a  small  box  of  Korean  niello 
work,  iron  inlaid  with  silver,  may  be  picked  up.  In  these  and 
others  the  principal  commodities  are  white  cottons,  straw 
shoes,  bamboo  hats,  coarse  pottery,  candlesticks,  with  draught 
screens,  combs,  glass  beads,  pipes,  tobacco  pouches,  spittoons, 
horn-rimmed  goggles,  much  worn  by  officials,  paper  of  many 
kinds,  wooden  pillow-ends,  decorated  pillowcases,  fans,  ink- 
cases,  huge  wooden  saddles  with  green  leather  flaps  bossed  with 
silver,  laundry  sticks,  dried  persimmons,  loathsome  candies 
dyed  magenta,  scarlet,  and  green,  masses  of  dried  seaweed 
and  fungi,  and  ill-chosen  collections  of  the  most  trumpery 
of  foreign  trash,  such  as  sixpenny  kerosene  lamps,  hand 
mirrors,  tinsel  vases,  etc.,  the  genius  of  bad  taste  presiding 
over  all. 

Plain  brass  dinner  sets  and  other  brass  articles  are  made, 


42  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  some  mother-of-pearl  inlaying  in  black  lacquer  from  old 
designs  is  occasionally  to  be  purchased,  and  embroideries  in 
silk  and  gold  thread,  but  the  designs  are  ugly,  and  the  color- 
ing atrocious.  Foreigners  have  bestowed  the  name  Cabinet 
Street  on  a  street  near  the  English  Legation,  given  up  to  the 
making  of  bureaus  and  marriage  chests.  These,  though  not 
massive,  look  so,  and  are  really  handsome,  some  being  of  solid 
chestnut  wood,  others  veneered  with  maple  or  peach,  and 
bossed,  strapped,  and  hinged  with  brass,  besides  being  orna- 
mented with  great  brass  hasps  and  brass  padlocks  6  inches 
long.  These,  besides  being  thoroughly  Korean,  are  distinctly 
decorative.  There  are  few  buyers,  except  in  the  early  morn- 
ing, and  shopping  does  not  seem  a  pastime,  partly  because 
none  but  the  poorest  class  of  women  can  go  out  on  foot  by 
daylight. 

In  the  booths  are  to  be  seen  tobacco  pipes,  pipestems,  and 
bowls,  coarse  glazed  pottery,  rice  bowls,  Japanese  lucifer 
matches,  aniline  dyes,  tobacco  pouches,  purses,  flint  and  tinder 
pouches,  rolls  of  oiled  paper,  tassels,  silk  cord,  nuts  of  the 
edible  pine,  rice,  millet,  maize,  peas,  beans,  string  shoes,  old 
crinoline  hats,  bamboo  and  reed  hats  in  endless  variety,  and 
coarse  native  cotton,  very  narrow. 

In  this  great  human  hive,  the  ordinary  sightseer  finds  his 
vocation  gone.  The  inhabitants  constitute  the  ''sight"  of 
Seoul.  The  great  bronze  bell,  said  to  be  the  third  largest  in 
the  world,  is  one  of  the  few  ''sights  "  usually  seen  by  stran- 
gers. It  hangs  in  a  bell  tower  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  and 
bears  the  following  inscription  : — 

"  Sye  Cho  the  Great,  12*^  year  Man  cha  [year  of  the  cycle] 
and  moon,  the  4'^  year  of  the  great  Ming  Emperor  Hsiian-hua 
[a.d.  1468],  the  head  of  the  bureau  of  Royal  despatches,  Sye 
Ko  chyeng,  bearing  the  title  Sa  Ka  Chyeng,  had  this  pavilion 
erected  and  this  bell  hung." 

This  bell,  whose  dull  heavy  boom  is  heard  in  all  parts  of 
Seoul,  has  opened  and  closed  the  gates  for  five  centuries. 


First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  43 

The  grand  triple  gateway  of  the  Royal  Palace  with  its  double 
roof,  the  old  audience  hall  in  the  Mulberry  Gardens,  and  the 
decorative  roofs  of  the  gate  towers,  are  all  seen  in  an  hour. 
There  remains  the  Marble  Pagoda,  seven  centuries  old,  so  com- 
pletely hidden  away  in  the  back  yard  of  a  house  in  one  of  the 
foulest    and   narrowest  alleys  of  the  city,   that  many  people 
never  see  it  at  all.     As  I  was  intent  on  photographing  some  of 
the  reliefs  upon  it,  I  visited  it  five  times,  and  each  time  with 
fresh  admiration  ;   but  so  wedged  in  is  it,  that  one  can  only  get 
any  kind   of  view  of  it  by  climbing  on  the  top  of  a  wall. 
Every  part  is  carved,  and  the  flat  parts  richly  so,  some  of  the 
tablets  representing  Hindu  divinities,   while  others  seem  to 
portray  the  various  stages  of  the  soul's  progress  towards  Nir- 
vana.     The   designs   are   undoubtedly    Indian,   modified   by 
Chinese  artists,  and  this  thing  of  beauty  stands  on  the  site  of 
a  Buddhist  monastery.     It  is  a  thirteen-storied  pagoda,  but 
three  stories  were  taken  off  in  the  Japanese  invasion  three 
centuries  ago,  and  placed  on  the  ground  uninjured.     So  they 
remained,  but  on  my  last  visit  children  had  defaced  the  ex- 
quisite carving,  and  were  offering  portions  for  sale.     Not  far 
off  is  another  relic  of  antiquity,    a  decorated  and  inscribed 
tablet  standing  on  the  back  of  a  granite  turtle  of  prodigious 
size.     Outside  the  west  gate,  on  a  plain  near  the  Peking  Pass, 
was  a  roofed  and  highly  decorated  arch  of  that  form  known  as 
the  pailow,  and  close  by  it  a  sort  of  palace  hall,  in  which 
every  new  sovereign   of  Korea  waited  for  the  coming  of  a 
special  envoy  from  Peking,  whom  he  joined  at  the  pailow,  ac- 
companying him  to  the  palace,  where  he  received  from  him  his 
investiture  as  sovereign. 

On  the  slope  of  Nam  San  the  white  wooden  buildings,  sim- 
ple and  unpretentious,  of  the  Japanese  Legation  are  situated, 
and  below  them  a  Japanese  colony  of  nearly  5,000  persons, 
equipped  with  tea-houses,  a  theatre,  and  the  various  arrange- 
ments essential  to  Japanese  well-being.  There,  in  acute  con- 
trast to  everything  Korean,  are  to  be  seen  streets  of  shops  and 


44  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

houses  where  cleanliness,  daintiness,  and  thrift  reign  supreme, 
and  unveiled  women,  and  men  in  girdled  dressing-gowns  and 
clogs,  move  about  as  freely  as  in  Japan.  There  also  are  to  be 
seen  minute  soldiers  or  military  police,  and  smart  be-sworded 
officers,  who  change  guard  at  due  intervals  ;  nor  are  such  pre- 
cautions needless,  for  the  heredity  of  hate  is  strong  in  Korea, 
and  on  two  occasions  the  members  of  this  Legation  have  had 
to  fight  their  way  down  to  the  sea.  The  Legation  was  occu- 
pied at  the  time  of  my  first  visit  by  Mr.  Otori,  an  elderly  man 
with  pendulous  white  whiskers,  who  went  much  into  the  little 
society  which  Seoul  boasts,  talked  nothings,  and  gave  no 
promise  of  the  rough  vigor  which  he  showed  a  few  months 
later.  There  also  are  the  Japanese  bank  and  post  office,  both 
admirably  managed. 

The  Chinese  colony  was  in  1894  nearly  as  large,  and  dif- 
fered in  no  respect  from  such  a  colony  anywhere  else.  The 
foreigners  depend  for  many  things  on  the  Chinese  shops,  and 
as  the  Koreans  like  the  Chinese,  they  do  some  trade  with 
them  also.  The  imposing  element  connected  with  China  was 
the  yamen  of  Yuan,  the  Minister  Resident  and  representative 
of  Korea's  Suzerain,  by  many  people  regarded  as  **  the  power 
behind  the  throne,"  who  is  reported  to  have  gone  more  than 
once  unbidden  into  the  King's  presence,  and  to  have  re- 
proached him  with  his  conduct  of  affairs.  Great  courtyards 
and  lofty  gates  on  which  are  painted  the  usual  guardian  gods, 
and  a  brick  dragon  screen,  seclude  the  palace  in  which  Yuan 
lived  with  his  guards  and  large  retinue ;  and  the  number  of 
big,  supercilious  men,  dressed  in  rich  brocades  and  satins, 
who  hung  about  both  this  Palace  and  the  Consulate,  impressed 
the  Koreans  with  the  power  and  stateliness  within.  The 
Americans  were  very  severe  on  Yuan,  but  so  far  as  I  could 
learn  his  chief  fault  was  that  he  let  things  alone,  and  neglected 
to  use  his  unquestionably  great  power  in  favor  of  reform  and 
common  honesty — but  he  was  a  Chinese  mandarin  !  He 
possessed    the    power    of    life    and    death    over    Chinamen, 


First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  45 

and  his  punishments  were  often  to  our  thinking  barbarous, 
but  the  Chinese  feared  him  so  much  that  they  treated  the 
Koreans  fairly  well,  which  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  the 
Japanese. 

One  of  the  <' sights"  of  Seoul  is  the  stream  or  drain  or 
watercourse,  a  wide,  walled,  open  conduit,  along  which  a 
dark-colored  festering  stream  slowly  drags  its  malodorous 
length,  among  manure  and  refuse  heaps  which  cover  up  most 
of  what  was  once  its  shingly  bed.  There,  tired  of  crowds 
masculine  solely,  one  may  be  refreshed  by  the  sight  of  women 
of  the  poorest  class,  some  ladling  into  pails  the  compound 
which  passes  for  water,  and  others  washing  clothes  in  the  fetid 
pools  which  pass  for  a  stream.  All  wear  one  costume,  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  capital,  a  green  silk  coat — a  man's  coat  with 
the  *'  neck"  put  over  the  head  and  clutched  below  the  eyes, 
and  long  wide  sleeves  falling  from  the  ears.  It  is  as  well  that 
the  Korean  woman  is  concealed,  for  she  is  not  a  houri.  Wash- 
ing is  her  manifest  destiny  so  long  as  her  lord  wears  white. 
She  washes  in  this  foul  river,  in  the  pond  of  the  Mulberry 
Palace,  in  every  wet  ditch,  and  outside  the  walls  in  the  few 
streams  which  exist.  Clothes  are  partially  unpicked,  boiled 
with  ley  three  times,  rolled  into  hard  bundles,  and  pounded 
with  heavy  sticks  on  stones.  After  being  dried  they  are 
beaten  with  wooden  sticks  on  cylinders,  till  they  attain  a 
polish  resembling  dull  satin.  The  women  are  slaves  to  the 
laundry,  and  the  only  sound  which  breaks  the  stillness  of  a 
Seoul  night  is  the  regular  beat  of  their  laundry  sticks. 

From  the  beautiful  hill  Nam-San,  from  the  Lone  Tree  Hill, 
and  from  a  hill  above  the  old  Mulberry  Palace,  Seoul  is  best 
seen,  with  its  mountainous  surroundings,  here  and  there  dark 
with  pines,  but  mostly  naked,  falling  down  upon  the  city  in 
black  arid  corrugations.  These  mountains  enclose  a  valley 
about  5  miles  long  by  3  broad,  into  which  200,000  people  are 
crammed  and  wedged.  The  city  is  a  sea  of  low  brown  roofs, 
mostly  of  thatch,  and  all  but  monotonous,  no  trees  and  no 


46  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

open  spaces.  Rising  out  of  this  brown  sea  there  are  the 
curved  double  roofs  of  the  gates,  and  the  gray  granite  walls  of 
the  royal  palaces,  and  within  them  the  sweeping  roofs  of  vari- 
ous audience  halls.  Cutting  the  city  across  by  running  from 
the  east  to  the  west  gate  is  one  broad  street,  another  striking 
off  from  this  runs  to  the  south  gate,  and  a  third  60  yards  wide 
runs  from  the  great  central  artery  to  the  palace.  This  is  the 
only  one  which  is  kept  clear  of  encumbrance  at  all  times, 
the  others  being  occupied  by  double  rows  of  booths,  leaving 
only  a  narrow  space  for  traffic  on  either  side.  When  I  first 
looked  down  on  Seoul  early  in  March,  one  street  along  its 
whole  length  appeared  to  be  still  encumbered  with  the  drift  of 
the  previous  winter's  snow.  It  was  only  by  the  aid  of  a  glass 
that  I  discovered  that  this  is  the  great  promenade,  and  that 
the  snowdrift  was  just  the  garments  of  the  Koreans,  whitened 
by  ceaseless  labor  with  the  laundry  sticks.  In  these  three 
broad  streets  the  moving  crowd  of  men  in  white  robes  and 
black  dress  hats  seldom  flags.  They  seem  destitute  of  any  ob- 
ject. Many  of  them  are  of  the  yang-ban  or  noble  class,  to 
whom  a  rigid  etiquette  forbids  any  but  official  or  tutorial  occu- 
pation, and  many  of  whom  exist  by  hanging  on  to  their  more 
fortunate  relatives.  Young  men  of  the  middle  class  imitate 
their  nonchalance  and  swinging  gait. 

There,  too,  are  to  be  seen  officials,  superbly  dressed, 
mounted  on  very  fat  but  handsome  ponies,  with  profuse  manes 
and  tails,  the  riders  sitting  uneasily  on  the  tops  of  saddles 
with  showy  caparisonings  a  foot  high,  holding  on  to  the  saddle 
bow,  two  retainers  leading  the  steed,  and  two  more  holding 
the  rider  in  his  place ;  or  officials  in  palanquins,  with  bearers 
at  a  run,  amid  large  retinues.  In  the  more  plebeian  streets 
nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  bulls  carrying  pine  brush,  strings  of 
ponies  loaded  with  salt  or  country  produce,  water-carriers 
with  pails  slung  on  a  yoke,  splashing  their  contents,  and 
coolies  carrying  burdens  on  wooden  pack  saddles. 

But  in  the  narrower  alleys,  of  which  there  are  hundreds, 


First  Impressions  of  the  Capital  47 

further  narrowed  by  the  low  deep  eaves,  and  the  vile  ditches 
outside  the  houses,  only  two  men  can  pass  each  other,  and  the 
noble  red  bull  with  his  load  of  brushwood  is  rarely  seen.  Be- 
tween these  miles  of  mud  walls,  deep  eaves,  green  slimy  ditches, 
and  blackened  smoke  holes,  few  besides  the  male  inhabitants 
and  burden  bearers  are  seen  to  move.  They  are  the  paradise 
of  mangy  dogs.  Every  house  has  a  dog  and  a  square  hole 
through  which  he  can  just  creep.  He  yelps  furiously  at  a 
stranger,  and  runs  away  at  the  shaking  of  an  umbrella.  He 
was  the  sole  scavenger  of  Seoul,  and  a  very  inefficient  one. 
He  is  neither  the  friend  nor  companion  of  man.  He  is 
ignorant  of  Korean  and  every  other  spoken  language.  His 
bark  at  night  announces  peril  from  thieves.  He  is  almost  wild. 
When  young  he  is  killed  and  eaten  in  spring. 

I  have  mentioned  the  women  of  the  lower  classes,  who  wash 
clothes  and  draw  water  in  the  daytime.  Many  of  these  were 
domestic  slaves,  and  all  are  of  the  lowest  class.  Korean 
women  are  very  rigidly  secluded,  perhaps  more  absolutely  so 
than  the  women  of  any  other  nation.  In  the  capital  a  very 
curious  arrangement  prevailed.  About  eight  o'clock  the  great 
bell  tolled  a  signal  for  men  to  retire  into  their  houses,  and  for 
women  to  come  out  and  amuse  themselves,  and  visit  their 
friends.  The  rule  which  clears  the  streets  of  men  occasionally 
lapses,  and  then  some  incident  occurs  which  causes  it  to  be 
rigorously  reenforced.  So  it  was  at  the  time  of  my  arrival, 
and  the  pitch  dark  streets  presented  the  singular  spectacle  of 
being  tenanted  solely  by  bodies  of  women  with  servants  carry- 
ing lanterns.  From  its  operation  were  exempted  blind  men, 
officials,  foreigners'  servants,  and  persons  carrying  prescrip- 
tions to  the  druggists'.  These  were  often  forged  for  the  purpose 
of  escape  from  durance  vile,  and  a  few  people  got  long  staffs 
and  personated  blind  men.  At  twelve  the  bell  again  boomed, 
women  retired,  and  men  were  at  liberty  to  go  abroad.  A  lady 
of  high  position  told  me  that  she  had  never  seen  the  streets  of 
Seoul  by  daylight. 


48 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


The  nocturnal  silence  is  very  impressive.  There  is  no 
human  hum,  throb,  or  gurgle.  The  darkness  too  is  absolute, 
as  there  are  few  if  any  lighted  windows  to  the  streets.  Upon 
a  silence  which  may  be  felt,  the  deep,  penetrating  boom  of 
the  great  bell  breaks  with  a  sound  which  is  almost  ominous. 


TURTLE  STONE 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    KUR-DONG 

BEFORE  leaving  England  letters  from  Korea  had  warned 
me  of  the  difficulty  of  travelling  in  the  interior,  of  getting 
a  trustworthy  servant,  and  above  all,  a  trustworthy  interpreter. 
Weeks  passed  by,  and  though  Bishop  Corfe  and  others  exerted 
themselves  on  my  behalf,  these  essential  requisites  were  not 
forthcoming,  for  to  find  a  reliable  English-speaking  Korean  is 
well-nigh  impossible.  There  are  English-speaking  Koreans 
who  have  learned  English,  some  in  the  Government  School, 
and  others  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  School,  and  many  of 
these  I  interviewed.  The  English  of  all  was  infirm,  and  they 
were  all  limp  and  timid,  a  set  of  poor  creatures.  Some  of 
them  seemed  very  anxious  to  go  with  me,  and  were  partially 
engaged,  and  the  next  day  came,  looking  uneasy,  and  balanc- 
ing themselves  on  the  edge  of  their  chairs,  told  me  that  their 
mothers  said  they  must  not  go  because  there  were  tigers,  or 
that  three  months  was  too  long  a  journey,  or  that  they  could 
not  go  so  far  from  their  families,  etc.  At  last  a  young  man 
came  who  really  spoke  passable  English,  but  on  entering  the 
room  with  a  familiar  nod,  he  threw  himself  down  in  an  easy- 
chair,  swinging  his  leg  over  the  arm  !  He  asked  many  ques- 
tions about  the  journey,  said  it  was  very  long  to  be  away  from 
Seoul,  and  that  he  should  require  one  horse  for  his  baggage 
and  another  for  himself.  I  remarked  that,  in  order  to  get 
through  the  difficulties  of  the  journey,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
limit  the  baggage  as  much  as  possible.  He  said  he  could  not 
go  with  fewer  than  nine  suits  of  clothes  !  I  remarked  that  a 
foreigner  would  only  take  two,  and  that  I  should  reduce  my- 

49 


50  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

self  to  two.  *'  Yes,"  he  replied,  '*  but  foreigners  are  so  dirty 
in  their  habits.*'  This  from  a  Korean  !  So  once  more  I  had 
to  settle  down,  and  accept  the  kindly  hospitality  of  my  friends, 
trusting  that  something  would  '^  turn  up." 

By  this  delay  I  came  in  for  the  Kur-dong^^  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  spectacles  I  ever  saw,  and  it  had  the  added  interest 
of  being  seen  in  its  splendor  for  probably  the  last  time,  as 
circumstances  which  have  since  occurred,  and  the  necessity 
for  economy,  must  put  an  end  to  much  of  the  scenic  display. 
The  occasion  was  a  visit  of  the  King  in  state  to  sacrifice  in 
one  of  the  ancestral  temples  of  his  dynasty,  members  of  which 
have  occupied  the  Korean  throne  for  five  centuries.  Living 
secluded  in  his  palace,  guarded  by  i,ooo  men,  his  subjects 
forbidden  to  pronounce  his  name,  which  indeed  is  seldom 
known,  in  total  ignorance  of  any  other  aspect  of  his  kingdom 
and  capital  than  that  furnished  by  the  two  streets  through 
which  he  passes  to  offer  sacrifice,  the  days  on  which  he  per- 
forms this  pious  act  offer  to  his  subjects  their  sole  opportuni- 
ties of  gazing  on  his  august  countenance.  As  the  Queen's 
procession  passed  by  on  the  day  of  the  Duke  of  York's  mar- 
riage, I  heard  a  workingman  say,  *'It's  we  as  pays,  and  we 
likes  to  get  the  valey  for  our  money."  The  Korean  pays  in 
another  and  heavier  sense,  and  as  in  tens  of  thousands  he 
crowds  in  reverential  silence  the  route  of  the  Kur-dong,  he  is 
probably  glad  that  the  one  brilliant  spectacle  of  the  year 
should  be  as  splendid  as  possible. 

The  monotony  of  Seoul  is  something  remarkable.  Brown 
mountains  "picked  out"  in  black,  brown  mud  walls,  brown 
roofs,  brown  roadways,  whether  mud  or  dust,  while  humanity 
is  in  black  and  white.  Always  the  same  bundled-up  women 
clutching  their  green  coats  under  their  eyes,  always  the  samie 
surge  of  yang-bajts  and   their  familiars  swinging  along  South 

>  If  an  apology  be  necessary  for  the  following  minute  description  of 
this  unique  ceremonial,  I  offer  it  on  the  ground  that  it  was  probably  the 
last  of  its  kind,  and  that  full  details  of  it  have  not  been  given  before. 


The    Kur-dong  ^i 

Street,  the  same  strings  of  squealing  ponies  ''spoiling  for  a 
fight,"  the  same  processions  of  majestic  red  bulls  under  tower- 
ing loads  of  brushwood,  the  same  coolies  in  dirty  white,  for- 
ever carrying  burdens,  the  same  joyless  dirty  children  getting 
through  life  on  the  gutters'  edge,  and  the  same  brownish  dogs, 
feebly  wrangling  over  offal.  On  such  monotony  and  color- 
lessness,  the  Kur-dong  bursts  like  the  sun.  Alas  for  this  mean 
but  fascinating  capital,  that  the  most  recent  steps  towards 
civilization  should  involve  the  abolition  of  its  one  spectacle  ! 

By  six  in  the  morning  of  the  looked-for  day  we  were  on 
our  way  from  the  English  Legation  to  a  position  near  the  Great 
Bell,  all  the  male  population  of  the  alleys  taking  the  same 
direction,  along  with  children  in  colors,  and  some  of  the 
poorer  class  of  women  with  gay  handkerchiefs  folded  Roman 
fashion  on  their  hair.  For  the  first  time  I  saw  the  grand  pro- 
portions of  the  road  called  by  foreigners  South  Street.  The 
double  rows  of  booths  had  been  removed  the  night  before, 
and  along  the  side  of  the  street,  at  intervals  of  20  yards, 
torches  10  feet  high  were  let  into  the  ground  to  light  the  King 
on  his  return  from  sacrificing.  It  is  only  by  its  imposing 
width  that  this  great  street  lends  itself  to  such  a  display,  for 
the  houses  are  low  and  mean,  and  on  one  side  at  least  are  only 
superior  hovels.  In  place  of  the  booths  the  subjects  were 
massed  twelve  deep,  the  regularity  of  the  front  row  being  pre- 
served by  a  number  of  yamen  runners,  who  brought  down 
their  wooden  paddles  with  an  unmerciful  whack  on  any  one 
breaking  the  line.  The  singular  monotony  of  baggy  white 
coats  and  black  crinoline  hats  was  relieved  by  boy  bride- 
grooms in  yellow  hats  and  rose  pink  coats,  by  the  green  silk 
coats  of  women,  and  the  green,  pink,  heliotrope  and  Turkey 
red  dresses  of  children.  The  crowd  had  a  quietly  pleased  but 
very  limp  look.  There  was  no  jollity  or  excitement,  no  flags 
or  popular  demonstrations,  and  scarcely  a  hum  from  a  con- 
course which  must  have  numbered  at  least  150,000,  half  the 
city,  together  with  numbers  from  the  country  who  had  walked 


^2  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

three  and  four  days  to  see  the  spectacle.  Squalid  and  mean 
is  ordinary  Korean  life,  and  the  King  is  a  myth  for  most  of 
the  year.  No  wonder  that  the  people  turn  out  to  see  as  splen- 
did a  spectacle  as  the  world  has  to  show,  its  splendor  centring 
round  their  usually  secluded  sovereign.  It  is  to  the  glory  of  a 
dynasty  which  has  occupied  the  Korean  throne  for  five  cen- 
turies as  well  as  in  honor  of  the  present  occupant. 

The  hour  of  leaving  the  palace  had  been  announced  as  6  a. 
M.,  but  though  it  was  7.30  before  the  boom  of  a  heavy  gun 
announced  that  the  procession  was  in  motion,  the  interest 
never  flagged  the  whole  time.  Hundreds  of  coolies  sprinkled 
red  earth  for  the  width  of  a  foot  along  the  middle  of  the 
streets,  for  hypothetically  the  King  must  not  pass  over  soil 
which  has  been  trodden  by  the  feet  of  his  subjects.  Squad- 
rons of  cavalry,  with  coolies  leading  their  shabby  ponies,  took 
up  positions  along  the  route,  and  in  a  great  mass  in  front  of 
us.  The  troopers  sat  on  the  ground  smoking,  till  a  very  dis- 
trait bugle-call  sent  them  to  their  saddles.  The  ponies  bit, 
kicked,  and  squealed,  and  the  grotesque  and  often  ineffectual 
attempts  of  the  men  to  mount  them  provoked  the  laughter  of 
the  crowd,  as  one  trooper  after  another,  with  one  foot  in  the 
stirrup  and  the  other  on  the  ground,  hopped  round  at  the 
pleasure  of  his  steed.  After  all,  with  the  help  of  their  coolies, 
were  mounted,  whacks  secretly  administered  by  men  in  the 
crowd  nearly  unhorsed  many  of  them,  but  they  clung  with 
both  hands  to  their  saddle  bows  and  eventually  formed  into  a 
ragged  line. 

Among  the  very  curious  sights  were  poles  carried  at  meas- 
ured distances  supporting  rectangular  frames  resembling  small 
umbrella  stands,  filled  with  feathered  arrows,  and  messengers 
dashing  along  as  if  they  had  been  shot  and  were  escaping  from 
another  shaft,  for  from  the  backs  of  their  collars  protruded 
arrows  which  had  apparently  entered  obliquely.  Either  on 
the  back  or  breast  or  both  of  the  superb  dresses  of  officials 
were  satin  squares  embroidered  in  unique  designs,  representing 


The    Kur-dong  53 

birds  and  beasts,  storks  indicating  civil,  and  tigers  military, 
rank,  while  the  number  of  birds  or  animals  on  the  lozenge  de- 
noted the  wearer's  exact  position. 

Though  there  were  long  stretches  of  silence,  scarcely  broken 
by  the  hum  of  a  multitude,  there  were  noisy  interludes,  novel 
in  their  nature,  produced  by  men,  sometimes  fifteen  in  a  row, 
who  carried  poles  with  a  number  of  steel  rings  loosely  strung 
upon  them,  which  they  tossed  into  the  air  and  allowed  to  fall 
against  each  other  with  a  metallic  clink,  loud  and  strident. 
Likewise  the  trains  of  servants  in  attendance  on  mandarins 
emitted  peculiar  cries,  sounding  G  in  unison,  then  raising 
their  note  and  singing  C  three  times,  afterwards,  with  a  fall- 
ing cadence,  singing  G  again. 

But  of  the  noises  which  passed  for  music,  the  most  curi- 
ous as  to  method  was  that  made  by  the  drummers,  who 
marched  irregularly  in  open  order  in  lines  extending  across  the 
broad  roadway.  These  carried  bowl-shaped  kettledrums 
slung  horizontally,  and  bass  drum  sticks  mainly  hidden  by 
their  voluminous  sleeves.  In  time  with  the  marching,  the 
right  hand  stick  rose  above  the  drummer's  head,  then  the  left 
stick  in  like  manner,  but  both  fell  again  nearly  to  the  drum 
without  emitting  a  sound!  The  next  act  of  the  performance 
consisted  in  lifting  both  sticks  above  the  head  together  and 
again  bringing  them  down  silently.  Finally  the  sticks  were 
crossed,  and  during  two  marching  steps  rose  feebly,  and  as 
feebly  fell  on  the  ends  of  the  drum,  producing  a  muffled 
sound,  and  this  programme  was  repeated  during  the  duration 
of  the  march. 

Soldiers  in  rusty  black  belted  frocks,  wide  trousers,  band- 
aged into  padded  socks,  and  straw  shoes,  stacked  arms  in  a 
side  street.  Closed  black  and  colored  chairs  went  past  at  a 
trot.  Palace  attendants  in  hundreds  in  brown  glazed  cotton 
sleeved  cloaks,  blue  under  robes*  tied  below  the  knee  with 
bunches  of  red  ribbon,  and  stiff  black  hats,  with  heavy  fan- 
shaped  plumes  of  peacock's  feathers,  rode  ragged  ponies  on 


54  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

gay  saddles  of  great  height,  without  bridles,  the  animals  being 
led  by  coolies.  High  officials  passed  in  numbers  in  chairs  or 
on  pony  back,  each  with  from  twenty  to  thirty  gay  attendants 
running  beside  him,  and  a  row  of  bannermen  extending  across 
the  broad  street  behind  him,  each  man  with  a  silk  banner 
bearing  the  cognomen  of  his  lord.  These  officials  were  su- 
perbly dressed,  and  made  a  splendid  show.  They  wore  black, 
high-crowned  hats,  with  long  crimson  tassels  behind,  and 
heavy,  black  ostrich  plumes  falling  over  the  brim  in  front, 
mazarine  blue  silk  robes,  split  up  to  the  waist  behind,  with 
orange  silk  under  robes  and  most  voluminous  crimson  trousers, 
loosely  tied  above  the  ankles  with  knots  of  sky  blue  ribbon, 
while  streamers  of  ribbon  fell  from  throats  and  girdles,  and 
the  hats  were  secured  by  throat  lashes  of  large  amber  beads. 
Each  carried  over  his  shoulder  a  yellow  silk  banneret  with  his 
style  in  Chinese  characters  in  crimson  upon  it,  and  in  the 
same  hand  his  baton  of  office,  with  a  profusion  of  streamers  of 
rich  ribbons  depending  from  it.  The  sleeves  were  orange  in 
the  upper  part  and  crimson  in  the  lower,  and  very  full. 

The  overfed  and  self-willed  ponies,  chiefly  roan  and  gray, 
are  very  handsome,  and  showily  caparisoned,  the  heads  cov- 
ered with  blue,  red,  and  yellow  balls,  and  surmounted  with 
great  crimson  silk  pompons,  the  bridles  a  couple  of  crimson 
silk  scarves,  the  saddles  a  sort  of  leather-covered  padded  pack 
saddle  12  inches  above  the  animal's  back,  with  wide,  deep 
flaps  of  bright  green  silver-bossed  leather  hanging  down  on 
either  side,  the  cruppers  folded  white  silk,  and  the  breastplate 
shields  of  gold  embroidery.  The  gorgeous  rider,  lifted  by  his 
servants  upon  this  elevation,  stands  erect  in  his  stirrups  with 
his  feet  not  halfway  down  his  pony's  sides,  his  left  hand 
clutching  rather  than  holding  an  arch  placed  for  this  purpose 
at  the  bow  of  the  saddle.  These  officials  made  no  attempt  to 
hold  their  own  bridles,  their  ponies  were  led  by  servants,  re- 
tainers supported  them  by  the  feet  on  either  side,  and  as  their 
mounts  showed  their  resentment  of  the  pace  and  circumstances 


The    Kur-dong  55 

by  twistings  and  struggUngs  with  their  grooms,  the  faces  of 
the  riders  expressed  "  a  fearful  joy,"  if  "joy"  "  was. 

Waves  of  color  and  Korean  grandeur  rolled  by,  official  pro- 
cessions, palace  attendants,  bannerraen,  with  large  silk  banners 
trailing  on  the  stiff  breeze,  each  flagstaff  crested  with  a  tuft  of 
pheasant's  feathers,  the  King's  chief  cook,  with  an  enormous 
retinue,  more  palace  servants,  smoking  long  pipes,  drummers 
fifers,  couriers  at  a  gallop,  with  arrows  stuck  into  the  necks  of 
their  coats,  holding  on  to  their  saddles  and  rope  bridles,  mixed 
up  with  dishevelled  ponies  with  ragged  pack  saddles,  carrying 
cushions,  lacquer  boxes,  eatables,  cooking  utensils   and  smok- 
ing apparatus,  led  caparisoned  ponies,  bowmen,  soldiers  strag^ 
glfng  loosely,  armed  with  matchlock  guns,  till  several  thousand 
persons  had  passed.     Yet  this  was  not  the  procession,  though 
it  might  well  have  served  for  one. 

At  7  ^o,  while  this  "  march  past"  was  still  going  on,  a  gun 
was  fired,  and   the  great  bell,  which  was  very  close  to  t.s 
boomed  heavily,  and  a  fanfaronade  of  trumpets  and  the  shrdl 
scream  of  fifes  announced  that  Li  Hs.  had  at  l^st  left  the 
palace.     The  cavalry  opposite  us  prepared  to  receive  His  Maj- 
esty by  turning  tail,  a  man«uvre  not  accomplished  without 
much  squealing  and  fighting.     There  was  a  general  stir  among 
the  spectators,  men  with  arrows  in  their  coats  galloped  frantic- 
ally, there  was  an  onslaught  on  the  "  Derby  dog,     and  an  at- 
tack by  men,  armed  with  the  long  wooden  paddles  which  are 
used  for  beating  criminals,  on  inoffensive  portions  of  the  crowd. 
It  is  said  that  there  were  5,000  servants  and  officials  con- 
nected with  the  palace,  and  there  were  nominally  6,000  soldiers 
in  Seoul,  and  the  greater  part  of  tliese  took  part  in  the  many 
splendid  processions  which  went  to  form  the  Royal  procession. 
It  would  be  impossible  for  a  stranger  to  give  in  detail  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  such  a  show,  the  like  of  which  has  no  existence 
elsewhere  on  earth,  passing  for  more  than  an  hour  in  the  bright 
sunshine,  in  detachments,  in  compact  masses,  at  a  stately  walk 
or  a  rapid  run,  in  the  full  spendor  of  a  barbaric  medievalism, 


56  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

or  to  say  what  dignitaries  flashed  by  in  the  kaleidoscopic  blaze 
of  color. 

The  procession  of  the  King  was  led  by  the  ''  general  of  the 
vanguard,"  superbly  dressed,  supported  by  retainers  on  his  led 
pony,  and  followed  by  crowds  of  dignitaries,  each  with  his 
train,  soldiers,  men  carrying  aloft  frames  of  arrows,  reaching 
nearly  across  the  road,  and  huge  flags  of  silk  brocade  sur- 
mounted by  plumes  of  pheasant's  feathers,  servants  in  rows  of 
a  hundred  in  the  most  delicate  shades  of  blue,  green,  or  mauve 
silk  gauze  over  white,  halberdiers,  grandees,  each  with  a  ret- 
inue of  bannermen,  rows  of  royal  bannermen  carrying  yellow 
and  blue  silk  flags  emblazoned,  cavalry  men  in  imitation  gold 
helmets  and  mediaeval  armor,  and  tiger  hunters  wearing  coarse 
black  felt  hats  with  conical  crowns  and  dark  blue  coats,  trail- 
ing long  guns.  With  scarcely  a  pause  followed  the  President 
of  the  Foreign  Office,  high  above  the  crowd  on  a  monocycle, 
a  black  wheel  supporting  on  two  uprights  a  black  platform, 
carrying  a  black  chair  decorated  with  a  leopard  skin,  the  oc- 
cupant of  which  was  carried  by  eight  men  at  a  height  of  8 
feet  from  the  ground.  More  soldiers,  bannermen,  and  drum- 
mers, and  then  came  the  chief  of  the  eunuchs,  grandly  dressed, 
with  an  immense  retinue,  and  a  large  number  of  his  subordi- 
nates, most  of  whom  up  to  that  time,  by  their  position  in  the 
palace  and  their  capacity  for  intrigue,  had  exercised  a  very 
baneful  influence  on  Korean  affairs. 

The  procession  became  more  quaint  and  motley  still.  Palace 
attendants  appeared  in  the  brilliant  garments  of  the  Korean 
middle  ages ;  cavalry  in  antique  armor  were  jumbled  up  with 
cavalry  in  loose  cotton  frocks  and  baggy  trousers,  supposed  to 
be  dressed  and  armed  in  European  fashion,  but  I  failed  to  de- 
tect the  flattery  of  imitation.  There  were  cavalry  in  black 
Tyrolese  hats  with  pink  ribbon  round  them,  black  cotton  sacks 
loosely  girdled  by  leather  belts  with  brass  clasps  never  cleaned, 
white  wadded  stockings,  and  hempen  shoes.  Some  had  leather 
saddles,  others  rode  on  pack  saddles,  with  the  great  pad  which 


The    Kur-dong  57 

should  go  underneath  on  the  top;  some  held  on  to  their  saddles, 
others  to  their  rope  bridles,  the  ponies  of  some  were  led  by- 
coolies  in  dirty  white  clothes;  the  officers  were  all  held  on 
their  saddles,  many  tucked  their  old-fashioned  swords  under 
their  arms,  lest  carrying  them  in  regulation  fashion  should 
make  their  animals  kick  ;  the  feet  of  some  nearly  touched  the 
ground,  and  those  of  others  hung  only  halfway  down  their 
ponies'  sides;  ponies  squealed,  neighed,  reared,  and  jibbed, 
but  somehow  or  other  these  singular  horsemen  managed  to 
form  ragged  lines. 

Then  came  foot  soldiers  with  rusty  muskets  and  innumer- 
able standards,  generals,  court  dignitaries,  statesmen,  some  with 
crimson  hats  with  heavy  black  plumes,  others  with  high  peaked 
crinoline  hats  with  projecting  wings,  others  with  lofty  mitres 
covered  with  tinsel  gleaming  like  gold,  each  with  a  splendid 
train.  Mediaeval  costumes  blazing  with  color  flashed  past, 
there  were  more  soldiers,  and  this  time  they  carried  Snider 
rifles,  two  Gatling  guns  were  dragged  \)y  yamen  runners,  who 
frantically  spanked  all  and  sundry  with  their  paddles,  drum- 
mers beat  their  drums  unmercifully,  fifes  shrieked,  there  were 
more  dignitaries  with  fairylike  retinues  in  blue  and  green  silk 
gauze,  the  King's  personal  attendants  in  crowds  followed  in 
yellow,  with  bamboo  hats  trimmed  with  rosettes,  standard- 
bearers  came  next,  bearing  the  Royal  standard,  a  winged  tiger 
rampant  on  a  yellow  ground,  more  flags  and  troops,  and  then 
the  curious  insignia  of  Korean  Royalty,  including  a  monstrous 
red  silk  umbrella,  and  a  singular  frame  of  stones.  More  gran- 
dees, more  soldiers,  more  musical  instruments,  and  then  come 
the  Royal  chairs,  the  first,  which  was  canopied  with  red  silk, 
being  empty,  the  theory  being  that  this  was  the  more  likely  to 
receive  an  assassin's  blow.  A  huge  trident  was  carried  in  front 
of  it.  After  this,  borne  high  aloft  by  forty  bearers  clothed  in 
red,  in  a  superb  chair  of  red  lacquer,  richly  tasselled  and  can- 
opied, and  with  wings  to  keep  off  the  sun,  came  the  King, 
whose  pale,  languid  face  never  changed  its  expression  as  he 


58  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

passed  with  all  the  dignity  and  splendor  of  his  kingdom  through 
the  silent  crowd. 

More  grandees,  servants,  soldiers,  standard-bearers,  arrow- 
men,  officials,  cavalry,  and  led  horses  formed  the  procession 
of  the  Crown  Prince,  who  was  also  carried  in  a  red  palanquin, 
and  looked  paler  and  more  impassive  than  his  father.  The 
supply  of  officials  seemed  inexhaustible,  for  behind  him  came 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  grandees  in  splendid  costumes,  with  hats 
decorated  with  red  velvet  and  peacock's  feathers,  and  throat 
lashes  of  great  amber  beads,  with  all  their  splendid  trains,  foot- 
men in  armor  bossed  with  large  nails,  drummers,  men  carry- 
ing arrow  frames  and  insignia  on  poles,  then  the  *' general  of 
the  rear  guard"  in  a  gleaming  helmet  and  a  splendid  blue, 
crimson,  and  gold  uniform,  propped  up  by  retainers  on  his 
handsome  pony,  more  soldiers  armed  with  old  matchlock  guns, 
lastly  men  bearing  arrow  frames  and  standards,  and  with  them 
the  barbaric  and  bizarre  splendor  of  the  Kiir-dong  was  over, 
and  the  white  crowd  once  more  overflowed  the  mean  street. 
Quite  late  in  the  evening  the  Royal  pageant  returned  by  the 
light  of  stationary  torches,  with  lanterns  of  blue  and  crimson 
silk  undulating  from  the  heads  of  pikes  and  bayonets. 

This  truly  splendid  display  was  estimated  to  cost  $25,000 — 
a  heavy  burden  on  the  small  resources  of  the  kingdom.  It  is 
only  thus  surrounded  that  the  King  ever  appears  in  public,  and 
the  splendor  accentuates  the  squalor  of  the  daily  life  of  the 
masses  of  the  people  in  the  foul  alleys  which  make  up  most  of 
the  city.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  people  taking  part 
in  the  pageant  are  not  men  hired  and  dressed  up  by  a  cos- 
tumier, but  that  they  are  actual  Court  officials  and  noblemen 
in  the  dress  of  to-day,  and  that  the  weapons  carried  by  the  sol- 
diers are  those  with  which  they  are  supposed  to  repel  attack  or 
put  down  rebellion. 


CHAPTER   IV 

SEOUL,    THE   KOREAN    MECCA 

FURTHER  difficulties  and  delays,  while  they  pushed  my 
journey  into  the  interior  into  the  hot  weather,  gave  me 
the  advantage  of  learning  a  little  about  the  people  and  the 
country  before  starting.  In  one  sense  Seoul  is  Korea.  Take 
a  mean  alley  in  it  with  its  mud-walled  hovels,  deep-eaved  brown 
roofs,  and  malodorous  ditches  with  their  foulness  and  green 
slime,  and  it  may  serve  as  an  example  of  the  street  of  every 
village  and  provincial  town.  In  country  places  there  are  few 
industrial  specialties.  A  Seoul  shop  of  "assorted  notions" 
represents  the  shop  of  every  country  town.  The  white  cloth- 
ing and  the  crinoline  dress  hat  are  the  same  everywhere  as  in 
Seoul.  Whatever  of  national  life  there  is  exists  only  in  the 
capital.  Strong  as  is  the  drift  towards  London  in  our  own  agri- 
cultural districts,  it  is  stronger  in  Korea  towards  Seoul.  Seoul 
is  not  only  the  seat  of  government,  but  it  is  the  centre  of  official 
life,  of  all  official  employment,  and  of  the  literary  examina- 
tions which  were  the  only  avenues  to  employment.  It  is  always 
hoped  that  something  may  be  "  picked  up  "  in  Seoul.  Hence 
there  is  a  constant  permanent  or  temporary  gravitation  towards 
it,  and  the  larger  proportion  of  the  youths  who  swing  and 
lounge  on  sunny  afternoons  along  the  broad  streets,  aping  the 
gait  of  yang-bans,  are  aspirants  for  official  position.  Gusts  of 
popular  feeling  which  pass  for  public  opinion  in  a  land  where 
no  such  thing  exists  are  known  only  in  Seoul.  It  is  in  the 
capital  that  the  Korean  feels  the  first  stress  of  his  unsought  and 
altogether  undesired  contact  with  Western  civilization,  and  re- 
sembles nothing  so  much  as  a  man  awaking  from  a  profound 

59 


6o  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

sleep,  rubbing  his  eyes  half-dazed  and  looking  dreamily  about 
him,  not  quite  sure  where  he  is. 

Seoul  is  also  the  commercial  centre  of  a  country  whose  ideas 
of  commerce  are  limited  to  huckstering  transactions.  All 
business  is  done  there.  All  country  shops  are  supplied  with 
goods  from  Seoul.  All  produce  not  shipped  from  the  treaty 
ports  converges  on  Seoul.  It  is  the  centre  of  the  great  trading 
guilds,  which  exercise  a  practical  monopoly  in  certain  sorts  of 
goods,  as  well  as  of  the  guild  of  porters  by  whom  the  traffic 
of  the  country  is  carried  on.  The  heart  of  every  Korean  is  in 
Seoul.  Officials  have  town  houses  in  the  capital,  and  trust 
their  business  to  subordinates  for  much  of  the  year.  Landed 
proprietors  draw  their  rents  and  "squeeze"  the  people  on 
their  estates,  but  are  absentees  living  in  the  capital.  Every 
man  who  can  pay  for  food  and  lodging  on  the  road  trudges  to 
the  capital  once  or  twice  a  year,  and  people  who  live  in  it,  of 
whatever  degree,  can  hardly  be  bribed  to  leave  it  even  for  a 
few  weeks.  To  the  Korean  it  is  the  place  in  which  alone  life 
is  worth  living. 

Yet  it  has  no  objects  of  art,  very  few  antiquities,  no  public 
gardens,  no  displays  except  the  rare  one  of  the  Kur-dong,  and 
no  theatres.  It  lacks  every  charm  possessed  by  other  cities. 
Antique,  it  has  no  ruins,  no  libraries,  no  literature,  and  lastly 
an  indifference  to  religion  without  a  parallel  has  left  it  without 
temples,  while  certain  superstitions  which  still  retain  their  hold 
have  left  it  without  a  tomb  ! 

Leaving  out  the  temple  of  Confucius  and  the  homage  offi- 
cially rendered  to  his  tablet  in  Korea  as  in  China,  there  are  no 
official  temples  in  Seoul,  nor  might  a  priest  enter  its  gates  un- 
der pain  of  death,  consequently  the  emphasis  which  noble  re- 
ligious buildings  give  even  to  the  meanest  city  in  China  or 
Japan  is  lacking.  There  is  a  small  temple  to  the  God  of  War 
outside  the  south  gate,  with  some  very  curious  frescoes,  but  I 
seldom  saw  any  worshippers  there.  The  absence  of  temples  is 
a  feature  of  the  other  Korean  cities.     Buddhism,  which  for 


D 

O 

w 

o 

w 

H 
H 
D 

o 


Seoul,  the  Korean  Mecca  6l 

i,ooo  years  before  the  founding  of  the  present  dynasty  was  the 
popular  cult,  has  been  "  disestablished"  and  practically  pro- 
scribed since  the  sixteenth  century,  and  Koreans  account  for 
the  severe  enactments  against  priests  by  saying  that  in  the  Jap- 
anese invasion  three  centuries  ago  Japanese  disguised  themselves 
as  Buddhist  priests  and  gained  admission  to  cities,  putting  their 
garrisons  to  the  sword.  Be  that  true  or  false,  Buddhism  in 
Korea  to  be  found  must  be  sought. 

As  there  are  no  temples,  so  there  are  no  other  signs  of  re- 
ligion, and  the  hasty  observer  would  be  warranted  in  putting 
down  the  Koreans  as  a  people  without  a  religion.  Ancestral 
worship,  and  a  propitiation  of  daemons  or  spirits,  the  result  of 
a  timid  and  superstitious  dread  of  the  forces  of  Nature,  are  to 
the  Korean  in  place  of  a  religion.  Both,  I  am  inclined  to  be- 
lieve, are  the  result  of  fear,  the  worship  of  ancestors  being  dic- 
tated far  less  by  filial  piety  than  by  the  dread  that  ancestral 
spirits  may  do  harm  to  their  descendants.  This  cult  prevails 
from  the  King  to  the  coolie.  It  inspires  the  costly  splendors 
of  the  Kur-dong,  as  well  as  the  spread  of  ancestral  food  in  the 
humblest  hovel  on  New  Year's  Eve. 

The  graves  within  an  area  of  ten  miles  from  the  city  wall 
are  among  the  remarkable  features  of  this  singular  capital. 
The  dead  have  a  monopoly  of  the  fine  hill  slopes  and  southern 
aspects.  A  man  who  when  alive  is  content  with  a  mud  hovel 
in  a  dingy  alley,  when  dead  must  repose  on  a  breezy  hill  slope 
with  dignified  and  carefully  tended  surroundings.  The  little 
fine  timber  which  exists  in  the  denuded  neighborhood  of  Seoul 
is  owed  to  the  Royal  and  wealthy  dead.  The  amount  of  good 
land  occupied  by  the  dead  is  incredible.  The  grave  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Royal  family  on  a  hill  creates  a  solitude  for  a  con- 
siderable distance  around.  In  the  case  of  rich  and  great  men 
as  well  as  of  princes,  the  grave  is  a  lofty  grassy  mound,  often 
encircled  by  a  massive  stone  railing,  with  the  hill  terraced  in 
front  and  excavated  in  a  horseshoe  shape  behind.  A  stone 
altar  and  stone  lanterns  are  placed  in  front,  and  the  foot  of  the 


62  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

hill,  as  at  the  '^  Princess's  Tomb,"  is  often  occupied  by  a  tem- 
ple-like building  containing  tablets  with  the  name  and  rank  of 
the  dead.  The  Royal  tombs  are  approached  by  stately  avenues 
of  gigantic  stone  figures,  possibly  a  harmless  survival  of  the 
practice  of  offering  human  and  other  sacrifices  at  a  burial. 
These  figures  represent  a  priest,  a  warrior  in  armor,  a  servant, 
a  pony,  and  a  sheep  (?).  The  poorer  dead  occupy  hillsides 
in  numbers,  resting  under  grass  mounds  on  small  platforms  of 
grass  always  neatly  kept.  The  lucky  place  for  interment  is  in 
all  cases  chosen  by  the  geomancer.  Behind  rich  men's  graves 
pines  are  usually  planted  in  a  crescent.  The  dead  population 
of  the  hillsides  round  Seoul  is  simply  enormous. 

Funerals  usually  go  out  near  dusk  with  a  great  display  of 
colored  lanterns,  but  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  see  an  artisan's 
corpse  carried  out  by  daylight.  First  came  four  drums  and  a 
sort  of  fife  perpetrating  a  lively  tune  as  an  accompaniment  to 
a  lively  song.  These  were  followed  by  a  hearse,  if  it  may  be 
called  so,  a  domed  and  gaudily  painted  construction  with  a 
garland  of  artificial  flowers  in  the  centre  of  the  dome,  a  white 
Korean  coat  thrown  across  the  roof,  and  four  flagstaffs  with 
gay  flags  at  the  four  corners,  bamboo  poles,  flower-wreathed, 
forming  a  platform  on  which  the  hearse  was  borne  by  eight 
men  in  peaked  yellow  hats  garlanded  with  blue  and  pink  flow- 
ers. Bouquets  of  the  same  were  disposed  carelessly  on  the 
front  and  sides  of  the  hearse,  the  latter  being  covered  with 
shield-shaped  flags  of  gaudily  colored  muslin.  The  chief 
mourner  followed,  completely  clothed  in  sackcloth,  wearing  an 
umbrella-shaped  hat  over  4  feet  in  diameter,  and  holding  a  sack- 
cloth screen  before  his  face  by  two  bamboo  handles.  Men  in 
flower- wreathed  hats  surrounded  him,  some  of  them  walking 
backwards  and  singing.  He  looked  fittingly  grave,  but  it  is  a 
common  custom  for  those  who  attend  the  chief  mourner  to  try 
to  make  him  laugh  by  comic  antics  and  jocular  remarks. 
There  are  "  burial  clubs  "in  Seoul  to  which  100,000  cas/i  are 
contributed   (then   worth    about  thirty-three    dollars,    silver). 


Seoul,  the  Korean  Mecca  63 

The  first  man  to  die  receives  30,000  cash,  the  second  33,000, 
and  the  third  37,000.  This  man  had  belonged  to  one  of 
these,  which  accounts  for  an  artisan  having  such  a  handsome 
funeral. 

Mourners  dress  in  straw-colored  hempen  cloth,  and  all  wear 
the  enormous  hats  mentioned  before,  which  so  nearly  conceal 
the  face  that  the  carrying  of  the  grass-cloth  screen  is  almost 
a  work  of  supererogation.  A  mourner  may  not  enter  the  pal- 
ace grounds,  and  as  mourning  for  a  father  lasts  for  three  years, 
a  courtier  thus  bereaved  is  for  that  time  withdrawn  from 
Court. 

Among  the  curious  customs  mainly  of  Chinese  origin  con- 
nected with  death  are  the  dressing  the  dying  person  in  his  best 
clothes  when  death  is  very  close  at  hand.  The  very  poor  are 
buried  coffinless  in  a  wrapping  of  straw,  and  are  carried  by 
two  men  on  a  bier,  the  nature  of  the  burden  being  concealed 
by  hoops  covered  with  paper. 

When  Buddhist  priests  and  temples  were  prohibited  in  the 
walled  towns  three  centuries  ago,  anything  like  a  national 
faith  disappeared  from  Korea,  and  it  is  only  through  ancestral 
worship  and  a  form  of  ''  Shamanism  "  practiced  by  the  lower 
and  middle  classes  that  any  recognition  of  the  unseen  survives, 
and  that  is  in  its  most  superstitious  and  rudimentary  form. 
Protestant  Christian  missionaries,  preceded  in  1784  by  those  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  entered  Korea  in  1884,  almost  as 
soon  as  the  country  was  opened  by  treaty,  and  agents  of  the 
American  Methodist  Episcopal  and  Northern  Presbyterian 
Churches  took  up  their  abode  in  Seoul.  They  have  been  fol- 
lowed by  representatives  of  several  of  the  divisions  among 
Protestants — Southern  Presbyterians,  Canadian  Presbyterians, 
Australian  Presbyterians,  and  Baptists — and  in  1890  the  first 
English  mission  to  Korea  was  founded  under  Bishop  Corfe.  A 
Roman  Catholic  Church  and  a  very  large  Roman  Catholic 
Cathedral  with  a  spire  occupy  two  of  the  most  prominent  sites 
in  Seoul.     One  of  the  best  sites  is  covered  with  the  buildings 


64  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

belonging  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission,  schools  for  girls 
and  boys,  a  printing  press,  a  Union  Church,  and  hospitals  for 
men  and  women,  with  which  dispensaries  are  connected.  The 
girls'  school  connected  with  this  mission  is  one  of  the  most 
admirable  in  its  organization  and  results  that  I  have  seen.  The 
Presbyterians  occupy  a  lowlier  position,  but  have  the  same 
class  of  agencies  at  work,  and  lately  the  King  handed  over  to 
them  a  large  hospital  in  the  city,  known  as  the  "  Government 
Hospital." 

Bishop  Corfe's  mission  occupies  two  modest  sites  in  modest 
fashion,  all  its  buildings  being  strictly  Korean.  On  one  side 
of  Seoul,  at  Nak-tong,  it  has  the  Community  House,  where  the 
bishop,  clergy,  doctor,  and  printer  live  and  have  their  private 
chapel,  also  the  Mission  press,  and  a  very  efficient  hospital  for 
men,  admirably  nursed  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Peter's  Kilburn. 
On  the  slope  of  the  British  Legation  Hill  are  the  English 
Church  of  the  Advent,  a  beautiful  Korean  building,  the  Com- 
munity House  of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  Women's 
Hospital  buildings,  embracing  a  dispensary,  a  new  hospital 
(the  Dora  Bird  Memorial)  of  eighteen  beds,  with  a  room  for  a 
private  patient,  besides  an  old  hospital,  to  be  used  only  for  in- 
fectious diseases.  These  are  under  the  charge  of  a  lady  phy- 
sician, and  are  also  nursed  by  the  Sisters  of  St.  Peter,  who  in 
both  hospitals  do  admirable  work  in  a  bright  and  loving  spirit 
which  is  beyond  all  praise. 

There  are  about  75  Protestant  and  34  Roman  missionaries  in 
Korea,  mostly  in  Seoul.  The  language  has  the  reputation  of 
being  very  difficult,  and  few  of  this  large  number  have  acquired 
facility  in  the  use  of  it.  The  idea  of  a  nation  destitute  of  a 
religion,  and  gladly  accepting  one  brought  by  the  foreigner, 
must  be  dropped.  The  religion  the  Korean  would  accept  is 
one  which  would  show  him  how  to  get  money  without  working 
for  it.  The  indifference  is  extreme,  the  religious  faculty  is 
absent,  there  are  no  religious  ideas  to  appeal  to,  and  the  moral 
teachings  of  Confucius  have  little  influence  with  any  class. 


Seoul,  the  Korean  Mecca  65 

The  Korean  has  got  on  so  well  without  a  religion,  in  his  own 
opinion,  that  he  does  not  want  to  be  troubled  with  one,  spe- 
cially a  religion  of  restraint  and  sacrifice  which  has  no  worldly- 
good  to  offer.  After  nearly  twelve  years  of  work,  the  number 
of  baptized  native  Protestant  Christians  in  1897  was  777.^ 
The  Roman  Catholics  claim  28,802,  and  that  the  average  rate 
of  increase  is  1,000  a  year.^  Their  priests  live  mostly  in  the 
wretched  hovels  of  the  people,  amidst  their  foul  surroundings, 
and  share  their  unpalatable  food  and  sordid  lives.  Doubtless, 
mission  work  in  Korea  will  not  differ  greatly  from  such  work 
elsewhere  among  the  older  civilizations.  Barriers  of  indiffer- 
ence, superstition,  and  inertness  exist,  and  whatever  progress 
is  made  will  probably  be  chiefly  through  medical  missions, 
showing  Christianity  in  action,  and  native  agency,  and  through 
such  schools  as  I  have  already  alluded  to,  which  leave  every 
feature  of  Korean  custom,  dress,  and  manner  of  living  un- 
touched, while  Christian  instruction  and  training  are  the  first 
objects,  and  where  the  gentle,  loving,  ennobling  influence  of 
the  teacher  is  felt  during  every  hour  of  the  day. 

1  In  1897  the  influence  of  Christianity  was  much  stronger  than  in  1895, 
and  the  prospects  of  its  spread  much  more  encouraging. 

2  For  statistics  of  Missions  in  February,  1897,  see  Appendix. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   SAILING    OF   THE    SAMPAN 

AT  a  point  when  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  my  pro- 
jected journey  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  insurmount- 
able, owing  to  the  impossibility  of  getting  an  interpreter,  and 
I  had  begun  to  say  "  if  I  go  "  instead  of  *'  ivhen  I  go,"  Mr. 
Miller,  a  young  missionary,  offered  his  services,  on  condition 
that  he  might  take  his  servant  to  supplement  his  imperfect 
knowledge  of  Korean.  Bishop  Corfe  provided  me  with  a 
Chinese  servant,  Wong,  a  fine,  big,  cheery  fellow,  with  inex- 
haustible good-nature  and  contentment,  never  a  cloud  of  an- 
noyance on  his  face,  always  making  the  best  of  everything, 
ready  to  help  every  one,  true,  honest,  plucky,  passionately 
fond  of  flowers,  faithful,  manly,  always  well  and  hungry,  and 
with  a  passable  knowledge  of  English  !  He  was  a  Chefoo  saiti- 
pan-vc\2A\  when  Bishop  Corfe  picked  him  up,  and  nothing  could 
make  him  into  a  regular  servant,  but  he  suited  me  admirably, 
and  I  was  grieved  indeed  when  I  had  to  part  with  him. 

The  difficulty  about  money  which  then  beset  every  traveller 
in  the  interior  cost  a  good  deal  of  anxious  planning.  The 
Japanese  ye7i  and  its  subdivisions  were  only  current  in  Seoul 
and  the  treaty  ports,  there  were  no  bankers  or  money-changers 
anywhere,  and  the  only  coin  accepted  was  the  cash,  of  which 
at  that  time  3,200  nominally  went  to  the  dollar.  This  coin  is 
strung  in  hundreds  on  straw  strings,  and  the  counting  of  it, 
and  the  carrying  of  it,  and  the  being  without  it  are  all  a 
nuisance.  It  takes  six  men  or  one  pony  to  carry  100  yen  in 
cash,  £10  \  Travellers,  through  their  Consuls,  can  obtain 
from  the  Foreign  Office  a  letter  to  officials  throughout  the 
country  called  a  kwan-ja,  entitling  the  bearer  to  their  good 

66 


iS 


The  Sailing  of  the  Sampan  67 

offices,  and  especially  to  food,  transport,  and  money.  But  as 
it  usually  happens  that  a  magistrate  advancing  money  to  a  for- 
eigner is  not  repaid  by  the  Government,  however  accurately 
the  sum  has  been  paid  in  Seoul,  the  arrangement  is  a  very 
odious  one  to  officials,  and  I  promised  our  Consul  that  I  would 
not  make  use  of  it  for  money.  Consequently,  the  boat  which 
I  engaged  for  the  earlier  part  of  the  journey  was  ballasted  with 
cash,  and  I  took  a  bag  of  silver  yen,  and  trusted  to  my  usual 
good  fortune,  which  in  this  case  did  not  altogether  fail. 

In  addition  to  this  uncouth  and  heavy  burden,  I  took  a 
saddle,  a  trestle-bed  with  bedding  and  mosquito  net,  muslin 
curtains,  a  folding  chair,  two  changes  of  clothing,  Korean 
string  shoes,  and  a  "  regulation  "  waterproof  cloak.  Besides, 
I  took  green  tea,  curry  powder,  and  20  Ihs.  of  flour.  I  dis- 
carded all  superfluities,  such  as  flasks,  collapsing  cups,  hand 
mirrors,  teapots,  sandwich  tins,  lamps,  and  tinned  soups, 
meats,  bouillon,  and  fruits.  The  kitchen  equipment  con- 
sisted of  a  Japanese  brazier  for  charcoal,  a  shallow  Japanese 
pan  and  frying-pan,  and  a  small  kettle,  with  charcoal  tongs, 
the  whole  costing  under  two  dollars  !  The  '*  table  equip- 
ment "  was  limited :  a  small  mug,  two  plates  and  a  soup  plate, 
all  in  enamelled  iron,  and  a  knife,  fork,  and  spoon,  which 
folded  up,  a  knife,  fork,  and  spoon  of  common  make  being 
reserved  for  the  "kitchen."  Tables,  trays,  tablecloths,  and 
sheets  were  from  thenceforth  unknown  luxuries.  I  mention 
my  outfit,  because  I  know  it  to  be  a  sufficient  one,  and  that 
every  pound  of  superfluous  weight  adds  to  the  difficulty  of  get- 
ting transport  in  Korea  and  in  many  other  countries.  Besides, 
I  was  encumbered  for  the  first  time  with  a  tripod  camera 
weighing  16  lbs.,  and  a  hand  camera  weighing  4  fts.,  with 
the  apparatus  belonging  to  them,  and  had  to  reduce  other 
things  accordingly.  On  the  whole,  it  is  best  to  trust  to  the 
food  of  the  country.  Korea  produces  eggs,  and  in  some  re- 
gions chickens.  The  chestnuts  are  good,  and  though  the  flour, 
which  can  be  got  in  a  few  places,  is  gritty,  and  the  rice  is  a 


68  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

bad  color,  both  are  eatable,  and  the  foreigner,  always  an  ob- 
ject of  suspicion,  is  less  so  when  he  buys  and  eats  native 
viands,  and  does  not  carry  about  with  him  a  number  of  (to 
Koreans)  outlandish-looking  utensils  and  commodities. 

Regarding  much  of  the  region  which  I  purposed  to  visit  no 
information  could  be  obtained,  either  from  Europeans  or 
Korean  officials,  and  the  best  map,  a  reduction  of  a  Japanese 
map  by  Sir  E.  Satovv,  turned  out  to  be  astray.  Mr.  Warner, 
of  Bishop  Corfe's  Mission,  had  ascended  the  north  branch  of 
the  Han,  but  it  is  still  doubtful  whether  any  European  has 
been  up  the  south  and  much  larger  branch  which  I  explored 
on  this  journey.  It  was  certain  only  that  the  country  was 
mountainous,  and  that  the  rapids  were  numerous  and  severe. 
It  had  also  been  said  earnestly,  and  with  an  appearance  of 
knowledge,  by  several  people  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  a 
lady  to  travel  in  the  interior ;  and  certainly  much  of  what  I 
heard,  supposing  it  to  be  fact,  was  sufficiently  deterring,  but 
from  many  similar  statements  in  other  countries  I  knew  that  a 
deduction  of  at  least  fifty  per  cent,  must  be  made  ! 

On  the  14th  of  April,  1894,  when  the  environs  of  Seoul  were 
seen  through  a  mist  of  green,  and  plum  and  peach  blossom 
was  in  the  ascendant,  and  the  heliotrope  azalea  was  just  begin- 
ning to  tint  the  hillsides,  and  the  air  was  warm  and  muggy,  I 
left  the  kind  friends  who  had  done  much  to  make  my  visit  to 
Seoul  interesting  and  agreeable,  and  went  on  ponyback  through 
the  south  gate,  passing  the  temple  of  the  God  of  War,  and 
over  a  pine-clothed  ridge  of  Nam-San  to  Han  Kang,  four  miles 
from  Seoul,  a  little  shipping  village,  where  my  boat  lay,  to 
avoid  a  rapid  which  lies  between  it  and  Ma-pu.  Up  to  Ma-pu, 
56  miles  from  Chemulpo,  there  is  a  very  considerable  tidal 
rise  and  fall  which  ceases  at  the  rapid. 

A  limp,  silent  crowd  of  men  and  boys  denoted  the  where- 
abouts of  the  boat,  from  which  Mr.  Miller's  servant,  Che-on-i, 
emerging  with  the  broad  smile  with  which  Orientals  announce 
bad  news,  informed  us  that  the  boat  was  too  small !     There 


The  Sailing  of  the  Sampan  69 

were  very  few  to  be  got,  and  I  had  not  seen  this  one,  Mr. 
Wyers,  the  Legation  constable,  having  engaged  her  for  me; 
and  I  went  "  on  board  "  at  once,  with  much  curiosity,  as  she 
was  to  be  my  home  for  an  indefinite  number  of  weeks.  And 
small  she  truly  was,  only  28  feet  over  all,  by  4  feet  10  inches 
at  her  widest  part,  and  with  her  whole  cargo,  animate  and  in- 
animate, on  board  she  only  drew  3  inches  of  water.  The 
roof  which  was  put  on  at  my  request  was  a  marvel.  A  slight 
framework  of  a  ridge  pole  and  some  sticks  precariously  tied 
together  supported  some  mats  of  pheasant  grass,  with  the  long 
blades  hanging  down  outside  and  over  the  gunwale,  which  was 
only  12  inches  high.  These  mats  were  tied  together  over  the 
ridge  pole,  and  let  in  a  streak  of  daylight  all  the  way  along. 
At  its  highest  part  this  roof  was  only  4  feet  6  inches.  It  was 
just  possible  to  sit  under  it  without  stooping.  By  putting 
forked  sticks  under  what  by  courtesy  were  called  the  rafters, 
they  could  be  lifted  a  foot  from  the  gunwale  to  let  in  light  and 
air.  Two  or  three  times  in  a  strong  breeze  this  roof  collapsed 
and  fell  about  our  heads  ! 

In  the  fore  part  of  the  boat,  7  feet  long,  one  boatman  pad- 
dled or  poled,  and  in  the  hinder  part,  4  feet  long,  the  other 
poled  or  worked  an  oar.  But  the  fore  part  was  also  our 
kitchen  and  poultry  yard  and  the  boatmen's  kitchen.  There 
also  were  kept  faggots,  driftwood,  and  miscellaneous  stores, 
with  the  food  and  water  in  unappetizing  proximity.  There, 
too,  Wong  and  Che-on-i  spent  their  day ;  and  there  they  all 
cooked,  ate,  and  washed  clothes ;  and  there  at  night  the  boat- 
men curled  themselves  up  and  slept  in  a  space  4  feetX4. 
The  rest  of  the  sampan  divided  itself  naturally  by  the  thwarts. 
My  part,  the  centre,  was  originally  8  feet X 4  feet  10  inches, 
but  encroachments  by  no  means  gradual  constituted  it  a  "  free 
coup"  for  sacks,  rice-bags,  clothing,  and  baskets,  till  it  wns 
reduced  to  a  bare  6  feet,  into  which  space  my  bed,  chair,  sad- 
dle, and  luggage  were  packed  for  five  weeks.  In  the  hinder 
division,  7  feetX4  feet  4  inches,  Mr.  Miller  lived  and  studied. 


70  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  he,  Wong,  and  Che-on-i  slept.  It  was  scarcely  possible 
for  six  people  and  their  gear  to  be  more  closely  packed.  Mr. 
Miller,  though  not  an  experienced  traveller,  cheerfully  made 
the  best  of  everything  then  and  afterwards,  and  preserved  the 
serenity  of  his  temper  under  all  circumstances. 

The  sampan's  crew  of  two  consisted  of  Kim,  her  owner,  a 
tall  wiry,  picturesque,  aristocratic-looking  old  man,  and  his 
"hired  man,"  who  was  never  heard  to  speak  except  on  two 
occasions,  when,  being  very  drunk,  he  developed  a  remarkable 
loquacity.  On  the  whole,  they  were  well  behaved  and  quiet. 
I  saw  them  in  close  proximity  every  hour  of  the  day  and  was 
never  annoyed  by  anything  they  did.  Kim  was  paid  ^30  per 
month  for  the  boat,  and  his  laziness  was  wonderful.  To 
dawdle  along,  to  start  late  and  tie  up  early,  to  crawl  when  he 
tracked,  and  to  pole  or  paddle  with  the  least  expenditure  of 
labor,  was  his  policy.  To  pole  for  an  hour,  then  tie  up  and 
take  a  smoke,  to  spend  half  a  day  now  and  then  on  buying 
rice,  to  work  on  my  sensibilities  by  feigning  exhaustion,  and 
to  adopt  every  dodge  of  the  lazy  man,  was  his  practice.  The 
contract  stipulated  for  three  men,  and  he  only  took  one,  mak- 
ing some  evasive  excuse.  But  I  have  said  the  worst  I  can  say 
when  I  write  that  they  never  made  more  than  10  miles  in  a 
day,  and  often  not  more  than  7,  and  that  when  they  came  to 
severe  rapids  they  always  wanted  to  go  back.^ 

Mr.  Wyers  busied  himself  in  putting  a  mat  on  the  floor  and 
stowing  things  as  neatly  as  possible,  and  when  curtains  had 
been  put  up,  the  quarters,  though  "■  cribbed,  cabined,  and  con- 
fined," looked  quite  tolerable.  The  same  limp,  silent  crowd 
looked  on  till  we  left  Han  Kang  at  midday.  In  a  few  hours 
things  shook  into  shape,  and  after  all  the  discomforts  were  not 
great,  possibly  the  greatest  being  that  the  smoke  and  the  smell 
of  the  boatmen's  malodorous  food  blew  through  the  boat. 

1  I  took  very  careful  notes  on  the  Han,  but  as  minute  details  would  be 
uninteresting  to  the  general  reader,  and  would  involve  a  good  deal  of  ap- 
parent repetition,  I  shall  give  only  the  most  salient  features  of  a  journey 
which,  if  it  has  ever  been  made,  has  certainly  not  been  described. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ON    THE    RIVER    OF    GOLDEN    SAND 

DURING  the  five  weeks  which  I  spent  on  the  Han,  though 
the  routine  of  daily  life  varied  little,  there  was  no  monot- 
ony. The  country  and  the  people  were  new,  and  we  mixed 
freely,  almost  too  freely,  with  the  latter ;  the  scenery  varied 
hourly,  and  after  the  first  few  days  became  not  only  beautiful, 
but  in  places  magnificent,  and  full  of  surprises  ;  the  spring 
was  in  its  early  beauty,  and  the  trees  in  their  first  vividness  of 
green,  red,  and  gold ;  the  flowers  and  flowering  shrubs  were 
in  their  glory,  the  crops  at  their  most  attractive  stage,  birds 
sang  in  the  thickets,  rich  fragrant  odors  were  wafted  off  on 
the  water,  red  cattle,  though  rarely,  fed  knee-deep  in  abounding 
grass,  and  the  waters  of  the  Han,  nearly  at  their  lowest,  were 
clear  as  crystal,  and  their  broken  sparkle  flashed  back  the  sun- 
beams which  passed  through  a  sky  as  blue  as  that  of  Tibet. 
There  was  a  prosperous  look  about  the  country  too,  and  its 
security  was  indicated  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of  solitary 
farms,  with  high  secluding  fences,  standing  under  the  deep 
shade  of  fine  walnut  and  persimmon  trees. 

Unlike  the  bare,  arid,  denuded  hillsides  between  Chemulpo 
and  Seoul,  the  slopes  along  much  of  the  route  are  wooded, 
and  in  many  cases  forested  both  with  coniferae  and  deciduous 
trees,  among  which  there  are  occasionally  picturesque  clumps 
of  umbrella  pines.  The  Pinus  Si?iensis  and  the  Abies  Micros - 
perma  abound,  and  there  are  two  species  of  oak  and  three  of 
maple,  a  Platanus,  juniper,  ash,  mountain  ash,  birch,  hazel, 
Sophora  Japonica,  Eiionymus  alatus,  Thiija  Oriefifalis,  and 
many  others.  The  heliotrope,  pink,  and  scarlet  azaleas  were 
in  all  their  beauty,  flushing  the  hillsides,  and  white  and  sul- 

71 


72  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

phur-yellow  clematis,  actinidia,  and  a  creeping  Euo7iyinus 
were  abundant.  Of  the  wealth  of  flowering  shrubs,  mostly 
white  blossomed,  I  had  never  seen  one  before  either  in  garden 
or  greenhouse,  except  the  familiar  syringa  and  spirea.  The 
beautiful  Ampelopsis  Veitchiana  was  in  its  freshest  spring  green 
and  tender  red,  concealing  tree  trunks,  depending  from 
branches,  and  draping  every  cliff  and  rock  with  its  exquisite 
foliage;  and  roses,  red  and  white,  of  a  free-growing,  climb- 
ing variety,  having  possession  even  of  tall  trees,  hung  their 
fragrant  festoons  over  the  roads. 

It  was  all  very  charming,  though  a  little  wanting  in  life. 
True,  there  were  butterflies  and  dragon-flies  innumerable,  and 
brilliant  green  and  brown  snakes  in  numbers,  and  at  first  the 
Han  was  cheery  with  mallard  and  mandarin- duck,  geese  and 
common  teal.  In  the  rice  fields  the  imperial  crane,  the  egret, 
and  the  pink  ibis  with  the  deep  flush  of  spring  on  his  plum- 
age, were  not  uncommon,  and  peregrines,  kestrels,  falcons, 
and  buzzards  were  occasionally  seen.  But  the  song-birds  were 
it"^.  The  forlorn  note  of  the  night-jar  was  heard,  and  the 
loud,  cheerful  call  of  the  gorgeous  ringed  pheasant  to  his 
dowdy  mate;  but  the  trilling,  warbling,  and  cooing  which  are 
the  charm  of  an  English  copsewood  in  springtime  are  alto- 
gether absent,  the  chatter  of  the  blue  magpie  and  the  noisy 
flight  of  the  warbler  being  poor  substitutes  for  that  entrancing 
concert.  Of  beast  life,  undomesticated,  there  were  no  traces, 
and  the  domestic  animals  are  few.  Sheep  do  not  thrive  on 
the  sour  natural  grasses  of  Korea,  and  if  goats  are  kept  I  never 
saw  any.  A  small  black  pig  not  much  larger  than  a  pug  is 
universal,  and  there  are  bulls  and  ponies  about  the  better  class 
of  farms.  There  are  big  buff  dogs,  but  these  are  kept  only  to 
a  limited  extent  on  the  Han,  in  the  idea  that  they  attract  the 
nocturnal  visits  of  tigers.  The  dogs  are  noisy  and  voluble, 
and  rush  towards  a  stranger  as  if  bent  on  attack  ;  but  it  is 
mere  bravado — they  are  despicable  cowards,  and  run  away 
howling  at  the  shaking  of  a  stick. 


On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand  73 

Leopards,  antelopes,  and  several  species  of  deer  are  found 
among  the  mountains  bordering  the  Han,  but  the  beast  by  pre- 
eminence there,  as  throughout  Korea,  is  the  tiger.  At  first  I 
was  very  incredulous  regarding  his  existence  and  depredations. 
It  was  impossible  to  believe  that  peaceful  agricultural  valleys 
surrounded  by  hills,  thinly  clothed  with  dwarf  oak  scrub, 
could  be  ravaged  by  him,  that  dogs,  pigs,  and  cattle  are  con- 
tinually carried  off  by  him,  and  that  human  beings  visiting 
each  other  at  night  or  belated  on  the  roads  are  his  frequent 
prey.  But  the  constant  repetition  of  tiger  stories,  the  terror 
of  the  villagers,  the  refusal  of  mapu  and  coolies  to  travel  after 
dark,  the  certainty  that  in  several  places  the  loss  of  life  had 
been  recent,  and  that  even  in  the  trim  settlement  of  Won-san 
a  boy  and  child  had  been  seized  the  day  before  I  arrived  and 
had  been  eaten  on  the  hillside  above  the  town,  have  made  me 
a  believer.  Possibly  some  of  the  depredations  attributed  to 
tigers  may  be  really  the  work  of  leopards,  which  undoubtedly 
abound,  and  have  been  shot  even  within  the  walls  of  Seoul. 
High  up  tlie  Han,  in  a  very  lovely  lake-like  stretch,  there  is  a 
village  recently  deserted  because  of  the  persistency  with  which 
tigers  had  carried  of  its  inhabitants.  The  Korean  tiger,  judg- 
ing from  its  skin,  in  which  the  long  hair  grows  out  of  a  thick 
coat  of  fine  fur,  resembles  the  Manchurian  tiger.  I  have 
heard  of  one  which  measured  13  feet  4  inches,  but  never  saw 
a  skin  more  than  11  feet  8  inches  in  length. 

The  tiger-hunters  form  what  may  be  called  a  brigade  or 
corps,  and  may  be  called  on  for  military  service.  They  were 
conspicuous  objects  in  the  Ktir-dong^  with  their  long  match- 
lock guns,  loose  blue  uniforms,  and  conical-crowned,  broad- 
brimmed  hats.  The  tiger  appears  on  the  Royal  standard,  and 
tigers'  skins  are  the  insignia  of  high  office,  the  leopard  skins,  in- 
dicating lower  rank.  Tlie  Chinese  give  a  very  high  price  for 
tigers'  bones  as  a  medicine,  considering  them  a  specific  for 
strength  and  courage.  Tiger-hunting  as  a  business  seems  con- 
fined to  the  northern  provinces.     On  the  Han,  and  specially 


74  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

along  its  northern  affluents,  are  found  three  if  not  four  species 
of  deer,  and  the  horns,  in  the  velvet,  of  the  large  deer  {^Cervus 
Manchuricus),  which  fetch  from  forty  to  sixty  dollars  a  pair, 
are  the  prize  most  wanted  by  the  hunters.  Pheasants  are  lit- 
erally without  number  and  are  very  tame  ;  I  constantly  saw 
them  feeding  among  the  crops  within  a  few  yards  of  the  peas- 
ants at  their  work.  They  are  usually  brought  down  by  falcons, 
which,  when  well  trained,  command  as  high  a  price  as  nine 
dollars.  To  obtain  them  three  small  birds  are  placed  in  a 
cylinder  of  loosely  woven  bamboo,  mounted  horizontally  on  a 
pole.  On  the  peregrine  alighting  on  this,  a  man  who  has  been 
concealed  throws  a  net  over  the  whole.  The  bird  is  kept  in  a 
tight  sleeve  for  three  days.  Then  he  is  daily  liberated  in  a 
room,  and  trained  to  follow  a  piece  of  meat  pulled  over  the 
floor  by  a  string.  At  the  end  of  a  week  he  is  taken  out  on 
his  master's  wrist,  and  slipped  when  game  is  seen.  He  is  not 
trained  to  return.  The  master  rushes  upon  him  and  secures 
him  before  he  has  time  to  devour  the  bird.  A  man  told  me 
that  he  sometimes  got  between  twenty  and  thirty  pheasants  a 
day,  but  had  to  walk  or  run  loo  //  to  do  it.  The  season  was 
nearly  over,  yet  I.  bought  fine  pheasants  on  the  Han  for  three- 
pence and  fourpence  each.  They  were  cheaper  than  chickens. 
The  Han  itself,  rising  in  the  Diamond  Mountain  of  Kong- 
w6n-Do,  and  formed  by  a  number  of  nearly  parallel  affluents, 
next  to  the  border  river  Am-nok,  is  ///<?  river  of  Korea,  which 
it  cuts  nearly  across,  its  eastern  extremity  being  within  25 
miles  of  the  Sea  of  Japan  and  its  western  at  Chemulpo.  I  as- 
cended it  to  within  40  miles  of  the  Sea  of  Japan,  and  estimate 
the  length  of  its  navigable  waters  for  small  flat-bottomed  craft 
at  about  170  miles.  A  clear  bright  stream  with  a  bottom  of 
white  sand,  golden  gravel  or  rock,  chiefly  limestone,  with  an 
average  width  of  250  yards  well  sustained  to  the  head  of  navi- 
gation, narrowed  at  times  by  walls  of  rock  or  divided  by  grassy 
islands  in  its  lower  course,  full  of  pebbly  shallows,  over  which 
it  ripples  gaily,  its  upper  waters  abounding  in  rocky  rapids, 


On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand  75 

many  of  them  severe  and  dangerous,  its  most  marked  features, 
to  my  thinking,  are  its  absence  of  affluents  after  it  emerges 
from  the  Diamond  Mountain,  and  its  singular  alternations  of 
shallow  with  very  deep  water.  It  was  a  common  occurrence 
to  have  to  drag  my  boat,  drawing  only  3  inches,  through  water 
too  shallow  to  float  her,  and  at  the  top  of  the  ripple  to  come 
upon  a  broad,  still,  lake-like,  deep,  green  expanse,  20  feet 
deep,  continuing  for  a  mile  or  two. 

After  passing  the  forks  there  are  46  rapids,  many  of  them 
very  severe,  before  reaching  Yong-Chhun,  which  for  practical 
purposes   may  be  regarded   as  the  limit  of  navigable  water. 

These  are  a  most  serious  obstacle  in  the  way  of  navigation, 
but  as  there  is  usually  a  deep  water  channel  in  the  middle, 
sailing  junks  of  25  tons,  taking  advantage  of  strong,  favorable 
winds,  get  up  as  far  as  Tan-Yang.  Beyond,  boats  not  twice 
the  size  of  my  sampan  must  be  used,  which  are  only  poled  and 
dragged,  and  as  they  must  keep  near  the  shore,  among  rocks 
and  furious  water,  their  progress  is  very  slow,  not  more  than  7 
miles  a  day.  Nevertheless,  the  Han,  with  all  its  difficulties 
and  obstructions,  is  the  great  artery  of  communication  for 
much  of  Kong-w6n-Do  and  Kyong-Kivi  Do,  and  for  the  north- 
east portion  of  Chung-Chong  Do ;  down  it  all  the  excess  pro- 
duce of  this  great  region  goes  to  Seoul,  and  nearly  all  merchan- 
dise, salt,  and  foreign  goods  come  up  it  from  the  sea-board, 
to  pass  into  the  hands  of  the  posa?ig,  or  merchant  pedlars,  at 
various  points,  and  through  them  to  reach  the  market-places 
of  the  interior.  During  the  first  ten  days  from  Han  Kang 
there  were  75  junks  a  day  on  an  average  bound  up  and  down 
stream.  There  is  a  very  large  floating  population  on  the  Han. 
There  is  not  a  bridge  along  its  whole  length,  but  communica- 
tion is  kept  up  by  47  free  ferries,  provided  by  Government. 

Not  having  been  able  to  learn  anything  about  the  route  or 
any  of  its  features,  I  was  much  surprised  to  find  a  very  large 
population,  not  only  along  the  river,  but  in  the  parallel  valleys, 
many  of  them  of  great   length  and  extreme  fertility,  in  its 


^6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

neighborhood.  It  was  only  necessary  to  climb  a  ridge  or  hill 
to  see  numbers  of  these,  given  up  to  rice  culture,  and  thickly 
sprinkled  with  farming  villages.  Along  the  river  banks  only, 
between  Han  Kang  and  Yong-Chhun,  there  are  176  villages. 
Much  of  the  soil  is  rich  alluvium,  from  5  to  11  feet  deep,  and 
most  prolific,  bearing  two  heavy  crops  a  year  (not  rice  lands) 
with  little  or  no  manure.  There  is  on  the  whole  an  air  of 
greater  ease  and  prosperity  about  the  Han  valley  than  about 
any  other  region  that  I  have  seen  in  Korea. ^ 

The  people  are  of  fine  physique  and  generally  robust  appear- 
ance. Some  of  them  had  evidently  attained  great  age.  There 
were  a  few  sore  eyes  and  some  mild  skin  diseases,  both  pro- 
duced by  dirt,  but  there  were  no  sickly-looking  people;  in- 
fants abounded. 

Except  for  a  monastery  and  temple,  both  Buddhist,  not  far 
from  Seoul,  and  the  Confucian  temples  at  the  magistracies, 
there  were  no  signs  of  any  other  cult  than  that  of  daemons. 
There  were  two  shrines  containing  7nirioks,  in  both  cases 
water-worn  boulders  chafed  into  some  resemblance  to  human- 
ity; spirit  shrines  on  heights;  and  under  large  trees  heaps  of 
stones  sacred  to  daemons ;  tall  posts,  with  the  tops  rudely  cut 
into  something  suggestive  of  distorted  human  faces,  painted 
black  and  blue,  with  straw  ropes  with  dependent  straw  tassels, 
like  those  denoting  Shinto  shrines  in  Japan,  stretched  across 
the  road  to  prevent  the  ingress  of  malignant  spirits,  and  trees 
with  many  streamers  of  rag,  as  well  as  worn-out  straw  shoes 
hanging  in  their  branches,  as  offerings  to  these  beings. 

'  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Europeans  habitually  underestimate  the 
population.  The  average  I  obtained  is  8  to  a  house,  taking  70  houses  at 
random,  and  this  estimate  is  borne  out  by  General  Greathouse,  for  some 
years  in  Korean  Government  service,  and  Mr.  Moffett,  a  resident  and 
traveller  in  Korea  for  seven  years,  both  of  whom  have  given  some  atten- 
tion to  the  subject.  It  must  be  understood  that  a  Korean  household 
rarely,  if  ever,  consists  of  a  man,  wife  and  children  only  ;  there  are  par- 
ents and  relationly  hangers-on,  to  say  nothing  of  possible  servants. 


On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand  77 

The  dwellings  do  not  vary  much,  except  that  the  roofs  of 
the  better  class  are  tiled.  In  villages  where  there  is  a  resident 
yang-ban  or  squire-noble,  his  house  is  usually  pretentious,  and 
covers  a  considerable  area,  but  yields  in  stateliness  to  the 
family  tomb,  always  on  a  hill  slope,  a  great  grass  mound  on  a 
grass  platform  backed  by  horseshoe-shaped  grass  banks,  and 
usually  by  a  number  of  fine  pines.  In  front  of  the  mound  is 
invariably  a  stone  altar  on  two  stone  drums,  stone  posts  which 
support  the  canopy  used  when  sacrifices  are  offered  to  the 
spirit  of  the  deceased,  and  stone  lanterns.  A  few  of  the 
grander  tombs  are  approached  by  a  short  avenue  of  stone  fig- 
ures of  warriors,  horses,  servants,  and  sheep. ^ 

The  peasant's  houses  do  not  differ  from  those  of  the  poorer 
classes  in  Seoul.  The  walls  are  of  mud,  and  the  floors,  also  of 
mud,  are  warmed  by  a  number  of  flues,  the  most  economical 
of  all  methods  of  heating,  as  the  quantity  of  dried  leaves  and 
weeds  that  a  boy  of  ten  can  carry  keeps  two  rooms  above  70° 
for  twelve  hours.  Every  house  is  screened  by  a  fence  6  feet 
high  of  bamboo  or  plaited  reeds,  and  is  usually  surrounded  by 
fruit  trees.  In  one  room  are  ang-pak,  great  earthenware  jars 
big  enough  to  contain  a  man,  in  which  rice,  millet,  barley,  and 
water  are  kept.  That  is  frequently  in  small  houses  the 
women's  room.  The  men's  room  has  little  in  it  but  the  mat 
on  the  floor,  pillows  of  solid  wood,  and  large  red  and  green 
hat-cases  ranging  from  the  rafters,  in  which  the  crinoline  dress 
hats  are  stowed  away.  Latticed  and  paper-covered  doors  and 
windows  denote  a  position  above  that  of  the  poorest.  A  pig- 
stye,  much  more  substantial  than  the  house,  is  always  along- 
side of  it. 

The  villages  from  about  50  //  up  the  Han  from  Seoul  may 
all  be  described  as  *' farming  villages."  Lower  down  they 
export  large  quantities  of  firewood  and  charcoal  for  the  daily 

1  Such  figures  where  they  occur  are  always  spoken  of  by  foreigners  as 
sheep,  but  I  doubt  whether  this  animal  appears  at  any  but  royal  tombs, 
where  it  is  probably  represented  as  offered  in  sacrifice  by  the  King. 


yS  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

needs  of  a  capital  which  has  left  itself  without  a  stick  available 
for  fuel  in  its  immediate  neighborhood.  No  special  industries 
exist.  The  peasants  make  their  rude  wooden  ploughs  and 
spades  shod  with  iron,  and  two  villages  within  40  //  of  Seoul 
supply  them  with  their  ang-paks  and  culinary  utensils  of  the 
same  coarse  ware,  which  stands  fire  and  serves  instead  of  iron 
pots.  Such  iron  utensils  as  are  used  are  imported  from  Seoul 
along  with  salt,  and  foreign  piece  goods  for  dress  clothes,  and 
are  paid  for  with  rice,  grain,  and  tobacco. 

The  people  are  peasant  farmers  in  the  strictest  sense,  most 
of  them  holding  their  lands  from  \\-\t  yang-ba7is  at  their  pleas- 
ure. The  proprietor  has  the  right  to  turn  them  out  after  har- 
vest, but  it  does  not  seem  to  be  very  oppressively  exercised. 
He  provides  the  seed,  and  they  pay  him  half  the  yield.  Some 
men  buy  land  and  obtain  title-deeds.  In  1894  they  paid  in 
taxes  on  one  day's  ploughing,  so  much  for  barley,  beans,  rice, 
and  cotton,  the  sum  varying;  but  a  new  system  of  collecting 
tax  on  the  assessed  value  of  the  land  has  come  into  operation, 
which  renders  "squeezing"  on  the  part  of  the  tax  collector 
far  more  difficult.  Money  is  scarcely  current,  business  trans- 
actions are  by  barter,  or  the  peasant  pays  with  his  labor.  His 
chief  outlay  is  on  foreign  piece  cottons  for  his  best  clothes. 
These  are  30  cash  per  measure  of  20  inches,  dearer  at  Yong- 
Wol,  the  reputed  head  of  navigation,  than  at  Seoul. 

The  population  of  the  Han  valley  is  not  poor,  if  by  poverty 
is  to  be  understood  scarcity  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  The 
people  have  enough  for  themselves  and  for  all  and  sundry  who, 
according  to  Korean  custom,  may  claim  their  hospitality. 
Probably  they  are  all  in  debt ;  it  is  very  rare  indeed  to  find  a 
Korean  who  has  not  this  millstone  round  his  neck,  and  they 
are  destitute  of  money  or  possessions  other  than  those  they  ab- 
solutely require.  They  appear  lazy.  I  then  thought  them  so, 
but  they  live  under  a  regime  under  which  they  have  no  security 
for  the  gains  of  labor,  and  for  a  man  to  be  reported  to  be 
**  making  money,"  or  attaining  even  the  luxury  of  a  brass  din- 


On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand  79 

ner  service,  would  be  simply  to  lay  himself  open  to  the  rapa- 
cious attentions  of  the  nearest  mandarin  and  his  myrmidons, 
or  to  a  demand  for  a  loan  from  an  adjacent  yang-ban.  Never- 
theless, the  homesteads  of  the  Han  valley  have  a  look  of  sub- 
stantial comfort. 

Certainly  the  meals  of  the  men  are  taken  in  far  greater  tidi- 
ness than  is  usual  among  laborers.  The  women,  as  is  the 
fashion  with  women,  eat  ''anyhow,"  and  gobble  up  their 
lords'  leavings.  All  meals  for  men  are  served  on  small,  circu- 
lar, dark  wooden  tables,  a  few  inches  high,  one  for  each  per- 
son. Rice  is  the  staple  of  diet,  and  is  served  in  a  great  bowl, 
but  besides  this,  there  are  seldom  fewer  than  five  or  six  glazed 
earthenware  vessels  containing  savory,  or  rather  tasty,  condi- 
ments.^ Chop-sticks  and  small  flattish  spoons  of  horn  or  base 
metal  are  used  for  eating. 

In  the  villages,  as  distinguished  from  the  hamlets,  on  the 
Han  there  are  schools,  but  they  are  not  open  to  the  public. 
Families  club  together  and  engage  a  teacher,  but  the  pupils  are 
only  of  the  scholarly  class,  and  only  Chinese  learning  in 
Wenli  is  taught,  this  being  the  stepping-stone  to  official  posi- 
tion, the  object  of  the  ambition  of  every  Korean.  En-itiim  is 
despised,  and  is  not  used  as  a  written  language  by  the  educated 
class.  I  observed,  however,  that  a  great  many  men  of  the 
lower  orders  on  the  river  were  able  to  read  their  own  script. 

With  the  exception  of  two  small  Buddhist  establishments 
not  far  from  Seoul,  priests  are  non-existent  on  the  Han,  nor  is 
there  any  Christian  propaganda,  Protestant  or  Roman,  at 
work,  though  Roman  missionaries  were  formerly  stationed  at 
two  points  near  the  forks.  Daemon  worship  prevails  through- 
out the  whole  region. 

The  river  is  frozen  for  from  three  to  four  months  in  the 

winter,  and  tends  to  inundate  the  lower  lands  for  two  months 

in  the  summer.     The  bridle  tracks  which  skirt  it  and  diverge 

from  it  are  infamous.     The  valley  has  no  mails,  and  of  course 

>  These  remarks  apply  to  every  part  of  Korea  which  I  afterwards  saw. 


8o  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

no  newspapers.  The  Tong-haks  (rebels,  or  armed  reformers) 
were  strong  in  a  region  immediately  to  the  south  of  the  great 
bend,  which  showed  some  dissatisfaction  with  things  as  they 
were,  and  a  desire  for  reform  in  some  minds. 

So  far  as  I  could  learn,  the  region  is  not  rich  in  ordinary 
minerals.  I  could  hear  nothing  of  ''the  burning  earth," 
though  the  geological  formation  renders  its  existence  probable. 
Copper  and  iron  are  worked  not  far  from  the  north  branch  to 
a  limited  extent.  But  the  Han  is  the  ''River  of  Golden 
Sand,"  and  though  the  height  of  the  gold  season  is  after  the 
summer  rains,  the  auri  sacra  fames  even  then  attracted  gangs 
of  men  to  the  river  banks,  and  gold  in  the  mountains  was  a 
subject  on  which  the  Koreans  were  always  voluble. 

The  attitude  of  the  people  was  friendly.  I  never  saw  a 
trace  of  actual  hostility,  though  on  the  higher  waters  of  the 
south  branch  it  was  very  doubtful  whether  they  had  seen  a 
European  before.  Their  curiosity  was  naturally  enormous, 
and  whenever  the  boat  tied  up  for  a  day  it  showed  itself  by 
crowds  sitting  on  the  bank  as  close  to  it  as  they  could  get,  star- 
ing apathetically.  They  were  frequently  timid,  and  snatched 
up  their  fowls  and  hid  them  when  we  came  in  sight,  but  a  lit- 
tle friendly  explanation  of  our  honesty  of  purpose,  and  above 
all,  the  sight  of  a  few  strings  of  cash,  usually  set  everything 
straight.  A  foreigner  is  absolutely  safe.  During  the  ofttimes 
tedious  process  of  hauling  up  the  rapids,  when  Mr.  Miller  and 
the  servants  were  tugging  at  the  ropes,  I  constantly  strolled  for 
two  or  three  hours  by  myself  along  the  river  bank,  and 
whether  the  path  led  through  solitary  places  or  through  vil- 
lages, I  never  met  with  anything  more  disagreeable  than  curi- 
osity shown  in  a  very  ill-bred  fashion,  and  that  was  chiefly  on 
the  part  of  women.  When  the  people  understood  that  they 
would  be  paid  it  was  not  difficult  to  procure  the  little  they  had 
to  sell  at  fairly  reasonable  rates.  They  were  disposed  to  be 
communicative,  and  showed  very  little  suspicion,  far  less  in- 
deed than  in  parts  of  Korea  where  foreigners  are  common. 


On  the  River  of  Golden  Sand 


8l 


My  Chinese  servant  was  everywhere  an  object  of  most  friendly 
curiosity  and  a  centre  of  pleasurable  interest. 

The  mercury  during  April  and  May  ranged  from  42°  to 
72°,  and  the  barometer  showed  remarkable  steadiness.  There 
were  two  heavy  rainfalls,  but  the  weather  on  the  whole  was 
superb,  and  the  atmosphere  clear  and  dry. 


KOREAN  PEASANTS  AT  DINNER. 


CHAPTER  VII 

VIEWS   AFLOAT 

A  FEW  hours  sufficed  for  settling  in  our  very  narrow- 
quarters,  and  by  the  end  of  the  second  day  we  had 
shaken  down  into  an  orderly  routine.  By  dint  of  much  driv- 
ing Kim  was  induced  to  start  about  seven,  at  which  hour  I  had 
my  flour  and  water  stirabout.  The  halts  for  smoking,  cook- 
ing, and  eating  were  many,  and  about  five  o'clock  he  used  to 
simulate  exhaustion,  a  deception  to  which  his  lean  form  and 
thin  face  with  its  straight  straggling  white  hair  lent  themselves 
effectively.  Then  followed  the  daily  wrangle  about  the  place 
to  tie  up,  Kim  naturally  desiring  a  village  and  the  proximity 
of  junks,  with  much  nocturnal  smoking  and  gossip,  while  my 
wish  was  for  solitude,  quiet,  and  a  pebbly  river  bottom,  and 
with  Mr.  Miller's  aid  I  usually  carried  my  point.  Between 
Kim's  laziness  and  the  frequent  occurrence  of  rapids,  lo  miles 
came  to  be  considered  a  good  day's  journey  !  The  same 
rapids  made  any  settled  plan  of  occupation  impossible,  yet  on 
the  early  stages  of  the  journey,  when  there  were  long  quiet 
stretches  of  water  between  them,  it  was  pleasant  to  elev^ate 
the  roof  and  have  a  quiet  morning's  work  till  dinner  at  twelve. 
This,  it  must  be  confessed,  was  a  precarious  meal.  Chickens 
for  curry  were  not  always  attainable,  and  were  often  so  small 
as  to  suggest  the  egg  shell,  and  the  river  fish  which  were  some- 
times got  by  pouncing  on  a  boy  fisherman  were  very  minute 
and  bony.  Chestnuts  often  eked  out  a  very  scanty  meal. 
Wong  used  to  hunt  along  the  river  banks  for  wild  onions  and 
carrots,  after  the  stock  of  the  cultivated  roots  was  exhausted, 
and  he  made  paste  of  flour  and  water,  rolled  it  with  a  bamboo 

82 


Views  Afloat  83 

on  the  top  of  a  box,  cut  it  into  biscuits  with  the  lid  of  a  tin, 
and  baked  them  in  the  frying-pan.  Rice  fritters  too  he  made 
morning,  noon,  and  night.  Afternoon  tea  of  Burrough's  and 
Wellcome's  '*  tabloids  "  was  never  omitted,  and  after  tying  up 
came  supper,  an  impoverished  repetition  of  dinner,  the  whole 
a  wholesome  regimen,  invariably  eaten  with  appetite. 

Visiting  villages  and  small  towns,  only  to  find  the  first  a 
collection  of  mud  hovels,  and  the  last  mud  hovels  with  the  ad- 
dition of  ruinous  official  buildings  and  a  forlorn  Confucian 
temple,  climbing  to  ridges  bordering  the  Han  to  get  a  view  of 
fertile  and  populous  valleys,  conversing  with  and  interrogating 
the  people  through  Mr.  Miller  and  his  servant,  taking  geo- 
graphical notes,  temperatures,  altitudes,  barometric  readings, 
and  measurements  of  the  river  (nearly  all  unfortunately  lost  in 
a  rapid  on  the  downward  journey),  collecting  and  drying  plants, 
photographing,  and  developing  negatives  under  difficulties,  all 
the  blankets  and  waterproofs  in  the  boat  being  requisitioned  for 
the  creation  of  a  "dark  room" — all  these  occupations  made 
up  busy  and  interesting  days. 

The  first  two  days  were  spent  in  turning  the  flank  of  the 
range  on  which  is  the  so-called  fortress  of  Nam  Han,  with  its 
priest  soldiers,  one  of  the  four  which  are  supposed  to  guard 
Seoul  and  offer  refuge  in  times  of  trouble.  On  the  right  bank 
there  are  many  villages  of  farmers,  woodcutters,  and  charcoal 
burners,  and  on  the  left  an  expanse  of  cultivated  sandy  soil  be- 
tween the  mountains  and  the  river,  there  a  broad  rapid  stream 
rippling  brightly  over  white  sand  or  golden  gravel.  After  pass- 
ing the  Yang-kun  magistracy,  a  large  village  with  a  long  street, 
where  a  whole  fleet  of  sampans  was  loading  with  country  pro- 
duce for  the  capital,  and  a  number  of  junks  were  unloading 
salt,  the  Han  makes  a  sharp  bend  to  the  south,  and  after  a  long 
rapid  expands  into  a  very  broad  stream.  The  valley  broadens 
also,  and  becomes  flat,  the  hills,  absolutely  denuded  even  of 
scrub,  are  low,  and  recede  from  the  river ;  their  serrated  black 
ridges  of  rock,  and  their  deeply  scored,  corrugated,  flushed 


84  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

sides,  which  spring  had  scarcely  tinged  with  green,  are  for- 
bidding, and  though  the  valley  was  green  with  young  wheat, 
that  is  quite  the  most  monotonous  and  uninteresting  part  of  the 
journey. 

After  circumventing  the  fine  fortress  summit  of  Nam  Han, 
the  river  enters  the  mountains.  From  that  time  up  to  the 
head  of  possible  navigation,  the  scenery  in  its  variety,  beauty, 
and  unexpectedness  exhausts  the  vocabulary  of  admiration. 

A  short  distance  above  Han  Kang  is  the  Buddhist  temple, 
of  Ryeng-an  Sa,  dedicated  to  the  Dragon,  one  of  the  two 
Buddhist  sanctuaries  on  the  long  course  of  the  Han.  On  the 
left  bank  a  low  stone  wall  encloses  a  spot  on  which  a  female 
dragon  alighted  from  heaven  in  the  days  of  the  last  dynasty, 
and  where  still,  in  times  of  flood  or  drought,  sacrifices  are 
offered  and  libations  poured  out  to  ''Heaven."  The  only 
other  temple  is  that  of  Pyok-chol  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Han, 
above  Yo  Ju,  four  days  from  Seoul.  A  steep  wooded  prom- 
ontory projects  into  the  still,  deep,  green  water,  crowned 
with  two  brick  and  stone  pagodas.  In  a  wooded  dell  at  the 
back  there  are  some  picturesque  and  elaborately  carved  and 
painted  temples  and  monastic  buildings,  and  a  fine  bell  five 
centuries  old,  surmounted  by  an  entanglement  of  dragons, 
which,  with  some  medallions  on  the  sides,  are  of  very  bold  de- 
sign and  successful  workmanship,  and  the  whole  is  said  to  have 
been  cast  in  Chung-Chong  Do  before  the  Japanese  stole  the 
arts  and  artists  !  A  pavilion  for  the  temple  dramas  was  occu- 
pied for  the  afternoon  by  a  large  picnic  of  women  and  children 
from  Y6  Ju.  In  one  of  the  monastic  courts  there  is  a  marble 
pagoda  with  some  finely  executed  bas-reliefs  on  its  sides, 
claiming  a  not  distant  kinship  with  those  of  the  "marble 
pagoda"  in  Seoul.  The  establishment  consisted  of  an  abbot, 
nineteen  monks,  and  four  novices.  The  abbot  was  the  most 
refined,  intellectual,  and  aristocratic  looking  man  that  I  saw  in 
Korea,  with  an  innate  courtesy  and  refinement  of  manner  rare 
anywhere.     He  carried  the  weight  of  seventy  years  with  much 


Views  Afloat  85 

grace  and  dignity,  and  niade  us  cordially  welcome.  This  was 
the  last  we  saw  of  Buddhism  till  we  reached  the  Diamond 
Mountain  six  weeks  later. 

At  the  village  of  Tomak-na-dali,  where  we  tied  up,  they 
make  the  great  purple-black  jars  and  pots  which  are  in  univer- 
sal use.  Their  method  is  primitive.  They  had  no  objection 
to  be  watched,  and  were  quite  communicative.  The  potters 
pursue  their  trade  in  open  sheds,  digging  up  the  clay  close  by. 
The  stock-in-trade  is  a  pit  in  which  an  uncouth  potter's  wheel 
revolves,  the  base  of  which  is  turned  by  the  feet  of  a  man  who 
sits  on  the  edge  of  the  hole.  A  wooden  spatula,  a  mason's 
wooden  trowel,  a  curved  stick,  and  a  piece  of  rough  rag  are 
the  tools,  efficient  for  the  purpose.  Fifty  //  higher  up,  a  few  // 
from  the  river,  are  beds  of  kaolin  used  in  the  Government 
pottery  and  for  the  finer  kinds  of  porcelain. 

For  two  days  the  Han  was  about  400  yards  wide,  with  a  very 
tortuous  course,  abounding  in  rapids,  shallows,  and  green 
islands,  with  great  expanses  of  pure  white  sand  on  its  left 
bank,  and  frequent  villages  of  woodcutters  and  charcoal  burn- 
ers on  both.  On  the  i6th  we  reached  the  forks  at  the  village 
of  Ma-chai.  There  the  north  branch,  which  was  to  be  after- 
wards traversed,  comes  down,  and  the  south  branch,  in  every 
way  more  important,  arrives  from  the  southward.  Between 
the  two  there  is  a  pretty  wooded  island  then  pink  with  azalea 
blossom.  Beyond  is  a  fine  stretch  of  alluvium,  nearly  6  feet 
deep,  bearing  rich  crops  of  barley  and  wheat,  but  entirely  un- 
protected from  the  desolations  of  the  river  in  its  annual  rise, 
which  engulfs  every  year  acres  of  this  prolific  soil.  Ten  years 
ago  the  Han,  altering  its  course,  brought  down  from  the  top  of 
a  steep  bank  at  some  distance  a  hugh  concrete  double  coffin  9 
feet  long  and  16  inches  thick  !  The  great  alluvial  expanse  was 
make  over  to  the  Buddhists  by  the  King,  who  receives  annually 
a  fixed  amount  of  the  produce. 

Between    Kim's   laziness  and  plausibility,  and  the  rapids, 
which  though  not  severe  were  frequent,  and  the  food  hunt, 


86  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

which  was  a  necessity,  our  progress  was  slow,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  19th  of  April  that  we  reached  Yo  Ju,  the  first  town  of 
any  importance  and  the  birthplace  of  the  late  Queen.  It  is 
memorable  to  me  as  being  the  first  place  where  the  crowd  was 
obstreperous  and  obnoxious,  though  not  hostile.  It  is  humili- 
ating to  be  a  "show  "  and  to  get  nothing  by  it !  I  went  out 
on  a  rock  in  the  river  in  the  hope  of  using  the  prismatic  com- 
pass in  peace,  and  was  nearly  pushed  into  the  water,  and  \vhen 
I  went  up  into  the  gate  tower  a  stamping,  curious  crowd,  climb- 
ing on  everything  that  afforded  a  point  of  vantage,  shook  the 
old  fabric  so  severely  that  the  delicately  balanced  needle  never 
came  to  rest.  The  crowd  was  dirty,  the  streets  were  foul  and 
decayed,  and  worst  of  all  was  the  magistrate's  j^w*?;^,  to  which 
we  had  occasion  to  go,  and  where  I  found  that  a  kwan-ja  was 
powerless  to  obtain  even  common  civility. 

The  yameUy  though  finely  situated  and  enclosing  in  its 
grounds  a  large  and  much  decorated  pavilion  for  Royal  use, 
but  used  as  a  children's  playground,  was  in  a  state  of  wreck. 
The  woodwork  was  crumbling,  beams  and  rafters  were  falling 
down,  lacquer  and  paint  were  scaling  off,  torn  paper  fluttered 
from  the  lattice  windows,  plaster  hung  from  the  grimy  walls, 
the  once  handsome  gate  tower  was  on  its  last  legs,  in  the  court- 
yard some  flagstones  had  subsided,  others  were  exalted,  and 
audacious  ragweed  and  shepherd's  purse  grew  in  their  crevices. 
Poverty,  neglect,  and  melancholy  reigned  supreme.  Within 
the  gates  were  plenty  of  those  persons  who  suck  the  lifeblood 
of  Korea.  There  were  soldiers  in  Tyrolese  hats  and  coarse 
cotton  uniforms  in  which  blue  predominated,  yamen  runners 
in  abundance,  writers,  officers  of  ///justice,  messengers  pre- 
tending to  have  business  on  hand,  and  many  small  rooms,  in 
which  were  many  more  men  sitting  on  the  floor  smoking  long 
pipes,  with  writing  materials  beside  them. 

One  attendant,  by  no  means  polite,  took  my  kwan-ja  to  the 
magistrate,  and  very  roughly  led  the  way  to  two  small  rooms, 
in  the  inner  one  of  which  the  official  was  seated  on  the  floor. 


Views  Afloat  87 

surrounded  by  a  few  elderly  men.  We  were  directed  to  stand 
at  the  opening  between  the  two  rooms,  and  behind  us  pressed 
as  many  of  the  crowd  as  could  get  in.  I  bowed  low.  No  no- 
tice was  taken.  An  attendant  handed  the  magistrate  a  pipe, 
so  long  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  light  it 
for  himself,  and  he  smoked.  Mr.  Miller  hoped  that  he  was  in 
good  health.  No  reply,  and  the  eyes  were  never  raised.  Mr. 
Miller  explained  the  object  of  the  visit,  which  was  to  get  a  lit- 
tle information  about  the  neighborhood.  There  was  only  a 
very  curt  reply,  and  as  the  great  man  turned  to  one  of  his  sub- 
ordinates and  began  to  talk  to  him,  and  rude  remarks  were  cir- 
culating, we  took  leave  with  the  usual  Korean  phrases  of  po- 
liteness, which  were  not  reciprocated. 

We  were  told  that  there  are  many  '*high  yang-hans'^  in 
Y6  Ju,  and  it  seemed  natural  that  the  magistrate  of  a  town  of 
only  700  houses  should  not  be  a  man  of  high  rank.  The  story 
goes  that  when  he  came  they  used  "  low  talk  "  to  him  and  or- 
dered him  about  as  their  inferior.  So  he  lives  chiefly  in  Seoul, 
and  the  man  who  sat  in  sordid  state  amidst  the  ruins  of  the 
spacious  and  elaborately  decorated  yamen  does  his  work  and 
divides  the  spoils,  and  the  yang-bans  are  left  to  whatever  their 
devices  may  be.  But  this  is  not  an  isolated  case.  Nearly  all 
the  river  magistrates  are  mainly  absentees,  and  spend  their  time, 
salaries,  and  squeezings  in  the  capital.  I  had  similar  inter- 
views with  three  other  magistrates.  I  asked  nothing  except 
change  in  cash  for  three  yen,  and  on  each  occasion  was  told 
that  the  treasury  was  empty.  My  kwan-ja,  a  pompous  doc- 
ument from  the  Foreign  Office,  was  of  this  use  only,  it  pro- 
cured me  a  chicken  at  a  high  price  in  a  town  where  the  people 
were  unwilling  to  sell  ! 

At  Yo  Ju  I  saw  for  the  only  time  either  in  Korea  or  China 
the  interior  of  an  ancestral  temple.  It  is  a  lofty  building,  with 
a  curved  tile  roof  and  blackwood  ceiling,  approached  by  a 
roofed  gateway.  Opposite  the  entrance  is  an  ebony  stool,  on 
which  are  a  brass  bowl  and  incense  burner.     Above  this  is  a 


88  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

large  altar,  supporting  two  candlesticks  with  candles,  and  above 
that  again  an  ebony  stand  on  which  rests  a  polished  black 
marble  tablet  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the  deceased.  Be- 
hind that,  in  a  recess  in  the  wall,  with  elaborate  fretwork 
doors,  is  his  life-sized  portrait  in  Chinese  style.  The  floor  is 
covered  with  plain  matting.  In  the  tablet  the  third  soul  of 
the  deceased  is  supposed  to  dwell.  Food  is  placed  before 
it  three  times  daily  for  three  years  in  the  case  of  a  parent, 
and  there  the  relations,  after  the  expiration  of  that  period, 
meet  at  stated  seasons  every  year  and  offer  sacrifice  and 
"  worship." 

At  the  large  and  prosperous-looking  village  of  Chon-yaing 
the  people  told  us  that  a  *'  circus  "  was  about  to  perform  and 
impelled  us  towards  it ;  but  finding  that  it  was  in  the  court- 
yard of  a  large  tiled-roof  mansion,  in  good  repair  and  of  much 
pretension,  we  were  retiring,  when  we  were  cordially  invited 
to  enter,  and  I  was  laid  hold  of  (literally)  by  the  serving- 
women  and  dragged  through  the  women's  court  and  into  the 
women's  apartments.  I  was  surrounded  by  fully  forty  women, 
old  and  young,  wives,  concubines,  servants,  all  in  gala  dress 
and  much  adorned.  The  principal  wife,  a  very  young  girl 
wearing  some  Indian  jewellery,  was  very  pretty  and  had  an 
exquisite  complexion,  but  one  and  all  were  destitute  of  man- 
ners. They  investigated  my  clothing,  pulled  me  about,  took 
off  my  hat  and  tried  it  on,  untwisted  my  hair  and  absorbed  my 
hairpins,  pulled  off  my  gloves  and  tried  them  on  with  shrieks 
of  laughter,  and  then,  but  not  till  they  had  exhausted  all  the 
amusement  which  could  be  got  out  of  me,  they  bethought 
themselves  of  entertaining  me  by  taking  me  through  their 
apartments,  crowding  upon  me  to  such  an  extent  as  they  did 
so  that  I  was  nearly  carried  off  my  feet.  They  took  me  through 
fourteen  communicating  rooms,  with  fine  parquet  floors,  mostly 
spoiled  by  being  covered  in  whole  or  in  part  with  Brussels 
tapestry  carpets  of  ''loud"  and  vulgar  patterns  in  hideous 
aniline  dyes.     Great  mirrors  in  tawdry  gilt  frames  glared  from 


Views  Afloat  89 

the  tender  coloring  of  the  walls,  and  French  clocks  asserted 
their  expensive  vulgarity  in  every  room. 

In  the  outer  court  a  rope  was  stretched  for  the  rope-dancers, 
and  kettledrums  and  reed-pipes  gave  promise  of  such  music  as 
Koreans  love.  I  was  escorted  across  two  other  courts  sur- 
rounded by  verandas  supported  on  dressed  stone,  and  with 
iron  railings  instead  of  wood,  to  an  elevated  reception  room, 
where  a  foreign  table  and  some  tawdry  velvet-covered  chairs 
clashed  with  the  tastefulness  of  the  walls  and  the  fine  mats 
bordered  with  the  Greek  fret  on  the  floor.  French  clocks,  all 
keeping  different  time,  were  much  en  evidence.  The  host,  a 
youth  of  eighteen,  eldest  son  of  the  governor  of  one  of  the 
most  important  governorships  in  Korea,  welcomed  us,  and 
seemed  anxious  to  receive  us  courteously.  Wine,  soup,  eggs, 
and  kimchi,  an  elaborate  sort  of  '*  sour  kraut,"  were  produced, 
and  had  to  be  partaken  of,  our  host  meanwhile  smoking  an 
expensive  foreign  cigar,  which  gave  him  an  opportunity  for 
the  ostentatious  display  of  a  showy  diamond  ring.  He 
was  dressed  in  sea-green  silk,  and  wore  a  hat  of  very  fine 
quality. 

He  wanted  to  see  the  inside  of  my  camera  and  to  be  photo- 
graphed, for  which  purpose  we  retired  to  the  back  of  the 
house  to  avoid  the  enormous  crowd  which  had  collected,  and 
which  was  becoming  every  moment  more  impolite  and  dis- 
orderly. I  made  him  exchange  the  foreign  cigar,  vulgar  in  a 
Korean's  mouth,  for  the  national  long  pipe.  At  this  juncture 
some  friends  came  up,  hangers-on,  who  were  feasting  with  him 
to  celebrate  his  having  obtained  a  good  place  in  a  recent  ex- 
amination, and  made  a  rudely-worded  request  for  our  immedi- 
ate departure.  It  was  obvious  that,  after  their  unmannerly 
curiosity  had  been  satisfied,  our  presence,  and  the  courteous 
treatment  extended  to  us,  spoilt  their  amusement.  The  ring- 
leader spoke  roughly  to  our  host,  who  turned  his  back  on  us 
and  retired  meekly  to  his  own  apartments,  although  he  is  a  son 
of  an  official  of  the  highest  rank,  and  a  near  relative  of  the 


go  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

late  Queen.  AVe  could  only  make  a  somewhat  ignominious 
exit,  having  been  truly  **  played  out." 

This  rage  for  French  clocks,  German  mirrors,  foreign  cigars, 
chairs  upholstered  in  velvet,  and  a  general  foreign  tawdriness 
is  spreading  rapidly  among  the  young  "swells"  who  have 
money  to  spend,  vulgarizing  Korean  simplicity,  and  setting 
the  example  to  those  below  them  of  an  extravagant  and  purely 
selfish  expenditure.  The  house,  with  its  many  courtyards,  was 
new  and  handsome,  and  money  glared  from  every  point.  I 
was  glad  to  return  to  the  simplicity  of  my  boat,  hoping  that 
with  the  "  plain  living,  high  thinking"  might  be  combined  ! 

Beyond  the  mountains  east  of  Yo  Ju,  the  Han  passes 
through  a  noble  stretch  of  rich  alluvium,  bearing  superb,  and 
fairly  clean  crops,  and  bordered  by  low,  serrated,  denuded, 
and  much  corrugated  ranges,  faintly  tinged  with  green.  On 
this  gently  rolling  plain  are  many  towns  and  villages,  among 
the  larger  of  which  are  Won  Ju,  Chung  Ju,  Chong-phyong, 
and  Tan-Yang,  all  on  or  near  the  river,  by  which  they  con- 
veniently export  their  surplus  produce,  chiefly  beans,  tobacco, 
and  rice,  and  receive  in  return  their  supplies  of  salt  and  for- 
eign goods.  Even  at  that  season  of  low  water  the  traffic  was 
considerable. 

Higher  up,  the  scenery  changes.  Lofty  limestone  bluffs, 
often  caverned,  rise  abruptly  from  the  river,  and  wall  in  the 
fertile  and  populous  valleys  which  descend  upon  it,  giving  place 
higher  up  to  grand  basaltic  formation,  range  behind  range, 
terraces  of  columnar  basalt  occasionally  appearing.  It  was  a 
lovely  season,  warm  days,  cold  nights,  brilliant  sunshine, 
great  white  masses  of  sunlit  clouds  on  a  sky  of  heavenly  blue, 
distances  idealized  in  a  blue  veil  which  was  not  a  mist,  flowers 
at  their  freshest,  every  bird  that  has  a  note  or  a  cry  vocal, 
butterflies  and  red  and  blue  dragon-flies  hovering  over  the 
grass  and  water,  fish  leaping,  all  nature  awake  and  jubilant. 
And  every  rift  and  bluif  had  its  own  beauty  of  blossoming 
scarlet  azaleas,   or  syringas,   contorted  or  stately  pines,  and 


Views  Afloat 


9> 


Ampelopsis  Veitchiaiia  rose-pink  in  its  early  leafage.  There 
was  a  note  of  gladness  in  the  air. 

Eight  days  above  Seoul,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  there 
is  a  ruinous  pagoda  built  of  large  blocks  of  hewn  stone,  stand- 
ing solitary  in  the  centre  of  a  level  plain  formed  by  a  bend  of 
the  Han.  The  people,  on  being  asked  about  it,  said,  "  When 
Korea  was  surveyed  so  long  ago  that  nobody  knows  when,  this 
was  the  centre  of  it."  They  call  it  the  ''  Halfway  Place." 
After  that  the  only  suggestions  of  antiquity  are  some  stone 
foundations,  and  a  few  stone  tombs  among  the  trees,  which, 
from  their  shape,  may  denote  the  sites  of  monasteries. 

Near  that  pagoda  were  a  number  of  men  very  drunk,  and 
there  were  few  days  on  which  the  habit  of  drinking  to  excess 
was  not  more  or  less  prominent.  The  junkmen  celebrated  the 
evening's  rest  by  hard  drinking,  and  the  crowd  which  nightly 
assembled  on  the  shore  when  we  tied  up  was  usually  enlivened 
by  the  noisy  antics  of  one  or  more  intoxicated  men.  From  my 
observation  on  the  Han  journey  and  afterwards,  I  should  say 
that  drunkenness  is  an  outstanding  feature  in  Korea.  And  it 
is  not  disreputable.  If  a  man  drinks  rice  wine  till  he  loses  his 
reason,  no  one  regards  him  as  a  beast.  A  great  dignitary  even 
may  roll  on  the  floor  drunk  at  the  end  of  a  meal,  at  which  he 
has  eaten  to  repletion,  without  losing  caste,  and  on  becoming 
sober  receives  the  congratulations  of  inferiors  on  being  rich 
enough  to  afford  such  a  luxury.  Along  with  the  taste  for 
French  clocks  and  German  gilding,  a  love  of  foreign  liquors 
is  becoming  somewhat  fashionable  among  the  yowwg  yang-bans ^ 
and  willing  caterers  are  found  who  produce  potato  spirit  rich 
in  fusel  oil  as  "old  Cognac,"  and  a  very  efl'ervescent  cham- 
pagne at  a  shilling  a  bottle  ! 

The  fermented  liquors  of  Korea  are  probably  not  unwhole- 
some, but  the  liking  for  them  is  an  acquired  taste  with  Euro- 
peans. They  vary  from  a  smooth  white  drink  resembling 
buttermilk  in  appearance,  and  very  mild,  to  a  water-white 
spirit  of  strong  smell  and  fiery  taste.     Between  these  comes 


92  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  ordinary  rice  wine,  slightly  yellowish,  akin  to  Japanese 
sake  and  Chinese  samshu,  with  a  faint,  sickly  smell  and  flavor. 
They  all  taste  nnore  or  less  strongly  of  smoke,  oil,  and  alcohol, 
and  the  fusel  oil  remains  even  in  the  best.  They  are  manu- 
factured from  rice,  millet,  and  barley.  The  wine-seller  pro- 
jects a  cylindrical  basket  on  a  long  pole  from  his  roof,  resem- 
bling the  ''  bush  "  formerly  used  in  England  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose. Probably  one  reason  that  the  Koreans  are  a  drunken 
people  is  that  they  scarcely  use  tea  at  all  even  in  the  cities,  and 
the  luxury  of  ''cold  water"  is  unknown  to  them.  The 
peasants  drink  hot  rice  water  with  their  meals,  honey  water  as 
a  luxury,  and  on  festive  occasions  an  infusion  of  orange  peel 
or  ginger.  The  drying  of  orange  peel  is  quite  a  business  with 
Korean  housewives.  There  were  quantities  of  it  hanging  from 
the  eaves  of  all  the  cottages. 

Up  to  a  short  distance  above  this  pagoda,  the  rapids  for 
which  the  Han  is  famous,  though  they  made  our  progress 
slow,  had  not  suggested  serious  difficulty,  far  less  risk,  but  for 
the  remaining  fortnight  they  were  tortuous  rocky  channels, 
through  which  the  river,  compressed  in  width,  rushes  with 
great  violence  and  tremendous  noise  and  clatter,  or  they  are 
successive  broken  ledges  of  rock,  with  a  chaos  of  flurry  and 
foam,  varied  by  deep  pools,  presenting  formidable,  and  at 
some  seasons  insuperable,  obstacles  to  navigation.  To  all  ap- 
pearance they  are  far  more  dangerous  than  the  celebrated 
rapids  of  the  Yangtze,  and  the  remains  of  timber  rafts  and 
junks  attest  their  destructive  properties.  They  occur  at 
shorter  and  shorter  intervals  as  the  higher  waters  are  reached, 
till  eventually  the  Han  becomes  an  unbroken  rapid  or 
cataract. 

Kim,  though  paid  handsomely,  was  far  too  stingy  to  pay  for 
any  help  en  route,  his  ropes  were  manifestly  bought  in  "the 
cheapest  market,"  and  though  Wong,  my  powerful  satnpan- 
man,  worked  with  both  strength  and  skill,  and  Mr.  Miller  and 
his  servant  toiled  at  the  tow  ropes,  and  in  great  exigencies  I 


Views  Afloat  93 

gave  a  haul  myself,  we  sometimes  made  only  7  miles  a  day, 
and  ofttimes  took  two  hours  to  ascend  a  few  yards,  two  poling 
with  might  and  main  in  the  boat,  and  three  tugging  with  all 
their  strength  on  shore.  Often  the  ropes  snapped,  when  the 
boat  went  spinning  and  flying  to  the  foot  of  the  rapid,  some- 
times with  injury  to  herself  and  her  contents,  sometimes 
escaping.  After  a  few  of  such  risks  I  habitually  landed,  either 
on  a  boatman's  back  or  wading  in  waterproof  Wellingtons, 
which  caused  great  wonderment  in  the  lookers  on.  The 
worst  rapids  were  always  in  the  most  beautiful  places,  and  the 
strolls  and  climbs  of  three  or  four  hours  along  the  river  banks, 
through  fields  with  bounteous  crops,  through  odorous  Spanish 
chestnut  groves,  through  thickets  with  their  fascinating  be- 
wilderments of  roses,  clematis,  and  honeysuckle,  and  past 
farmhouses  with  their  privacy  of  bamboo  screens,  and  deep 
shade  of  blossoming  fruit  trees,  were  very  delightful. 

In  ten  days  from  Seoul  we  reach  Chong-phyong,  a  town  of 
some  pretensions,  where  in  connection  with  the  yamen  is  a 
temple  pavilion  with  a  high  white  chair,  facing  a  table  with 
candlesticks  upon  it,  floor,  table,  and  chair  deep  in  dust, 
though  the  building  is  used  regularly  for  offering  prayers  and 
sacrifices  for  the  King.  Dust  is  not  noteworthy  in  Korea,  but 
the  paintings  in  this  temple  are.  On  the  end  walls  are  vivid 
groups  of  six  noblemen  wearing  fine  horsehair  palace  hats 
with  wings,  each  man  holding  a  piece  of  folded  paper  in  his 
hand,  and  listening  intently  as  he  bends  forward  towards  the 
chair.  The  conception  and  technique  of  these  paintings  are 
admirable,  and  the  sunset  scenes  on  the  back  wall,  though 
inferior  in  execution,  are  the  work  of  a  true  artist. 

Close  by  is  a  Royal  pavilion  hanging  over  the  edge  of  a 
high  bluff  above  the  Han,  surrounded  by  superb  elms,  some 
of  their  trunks  from  20  to  23  feet  in  circumference.  The 
view  of  the  fertile  valley  and  of  the  mountains  beyond  is  very 
fine,  and  the  decorative  woodwork,  painted  in  Korean  style, 
has   been  very  handsome;    but  the  phrase  ^*has  been"  de- 


94  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

scribes  most  things  Korean,  and  official  squalor  and  neglect 
could  scarcely  go  farther. 

At  Chong-phyong  and  elsewhere  the  common  people,  in 
spite  of  their  overpowering  curiosity,  were  not  rude,  and 
usually  retired  to  a  respectful  distance  to  watch  us  eat ;  but 
from  the  class  of  scholars  who  hang  on  round  all  yametis  we 
met  with  a  good  deal  of  underbred  impertinence,  some  of  the 
men  going  so  far  as  to  raise  the  curtain  of  my  compartment 
and  introduce  their  heads  and  shoulders  beneath  it,  brow- 
beating the  boatmen  when  they  politely  asked  them  to  desist. 
On  the  other  hand,  men  of  the  non-cultured  class  showed  us 
various  small  attentions,  sometimes  helping  with  a  haul  at  the 
ropes  at  a  rapid,  only  asking  in  return  that  their  wives  might 
see  me,  a  request  with  which  I  always  gladly  complied.  At 
Chong-phyong,  so  great  was  female  curiosity  that  a  number  of 
women  waded  waist  deep  after  the  boat  to  peer  under  the  mats 
of  the  roof,  and  one  of  them,  scrambling  out  to  a  rock  for  a 
final  stare,  overbalanced  herself  and  fell  into  deep  water.  At 
one  point,  in  the  very  early  morning,  some  women  presented 
themselves  at  the  boat,  having  walked  several  //  with  a  present 
of  eggs,  the  payment  for  which  was  to  be  a  sight  of  me  and 
my  poor  equipments,  they  having  heard  that  there  was  a  boat 
with  a  foreign  woman  on  board.  The  old  cambric  curtains 
brought  from  Persia,  with  a  red  pattern  on  a  white  ground, 
always  attracted  them  greatly,  and  the  small  Japanese  cooking 
utensils. 

In  thirteen  days  from  Seoul  we  reached  Tan -Yang,  a  magis- 
tracy prettily  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Han,  with  a 
picturesque  Confucian  temple  on  the  hill  above ;  and  a  day 
later  entered  upon  mountainous  country  of  extreme  beauty. 
The  paucity  of  tributaries  is  very  marked.  Up  to  that  point, 
except  the  north  branch,  there  are  but  two — one  which  joins 
the  Han  at  the  village  of  Hu-nan  Chang,  on  the  right  bank, 
and  is  navigable  for  60  //,  as  far  as  the  important  town  of 
Wan  Juj  and  another,  which  enters  2  //  above  the  pictur- 


Views  Afloat  95 

esquely-situated  village  of  So-il,  on  the  left  bank.  Above 
Tan-Yang  the  river  forms  long  and  violent  rapids,  alternating 
with  broad  stretches  of  blue,  quiet  water  from  10  to  20  feet 
deep,  rolling  majestically,  making  sharp  and  extraordinary 
bends  among  lofty  limestone  precipices.  Villages  on  natural 
terraces  occur  constantly,  the  lower  terrace  planted  with  mul- 
berry or  weeping  willows.  Hemp  is  cultivated  in  great  quan- 
tities, and  is  used  for  sackcloth  for  mourners'  wear,  bags,  and 
rope.  In  my  walks  along  the  river  I  had  several  opportunities 
of  seeing  the  curious  method  of  separating  the  fibre,  rude  and 
primitive,  but  effectual.  At  the  bottom  of  a  stone  paved  pit 
large  stones  are  placed,  which  are  heated  from  a  rough  oven 
at  the  side.  The  hemp  is  pressed  down  in  bundles  upon  these, 
and  stakes  are  driven  in  among  them.  Piles  of  coarse  Korean 
grass  are  placed  over  the  hemp,  and  earth  over  all,  well  beaten 
down.  The  stakes  are  then  pulled  up  and  water  is  poured  into 
the  holes  left  by  them.  This,  falling  on  the  heated  stones,  pro- 
duces a  dense  steam,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  the  hemp  fibre 
is  so  completely  disintegrated  as  to  be  easily  separated. 

A  grand  gorge,  3  miles  long,  with  lofty  cliffs  of  much-cav- 
erned  limestone,  varied  by  rock  needles  draped  with  Ampelopsis 
and  clematis,  and  giving  foothold  to  azaleas,  spirea,  syringa, 
pear,  hawthorn,  climbing  roses,  wistaria,  cyclamen,  lycopo- 
dium,  yellow  vetches,  many  LabiatcB,  and  much  else,  contains 
but  one  village,  piled  step  above  step  in  a  deep  wooded  fold  of 
the  hills,  on  which  millet  culture  is  carried  to  a  great  height, 
on  slopes  too  steep  to  be  ploughed  by  oxen.  This  gorge  opens 
out  on  slopes  of  rich  soil,  some  of  which  is  still  uncultivated. 
The  hamlets  are  small,  and  grow  much  hemp,  and  each  has  its 
hemp  pit.  They  also  grow  Urtica  Nivea,  from  the  bleached 
fibre  of  which  their  grass  cloth  summer  clothes  are  made.  All 
these  are  surrounded  with  mulberry  groves. 

The  large  village  of  Cham-su-ki,  at  the  head  of  two  severe 
rapids,  in  ascending  which  our  ropes  snapped  three  times,  offers 
a  good  example  of  the  popular  belief  in  spirits.    It  is  approached 


96  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

under  a  tasselled  straw  rope,  one  end  of  which  is  wound  round 
a  fine  tree  with  a  stone  altar  below  it.  On  another  rope  were 
suspended  a  few  small  bags  containing  offerings  of  food.  If  a 
person  dies  of  the  pestilence  or  by  the  roadside,  or  a  woman  dies 
in  childbirth,  the  spirit  invariably  takes  up  its  abode  in  a  tree. 
To  such  spirits  offerings  are  made  on  the  stone  altar  of  cake, 
wine,  and  pork,  but  where  the  tree  is  the  domicile  of  the  spirit 
of  a  man  who  has  been  killed  by  a  tiger,  dog's  flesh  is  offered 
instead  of  pork.  The  Cham-su-ki  tree  is  a  fine  well-grown 
elm.  Gnarled  trees,  of  which  we  saw  several  on  hilltops  and 
sides,  are  occupied  by  the  spirits  of  persons  who  have  died  be- 
fore reaching  a  cycle,  i.e.  sixty  years  of  age.  A  steep  cliff 
above  Cham-su-ki  is  also  denoted  as  the  abode  of  daemons  by 
a  straw  rope  and  a  stone  altar. 

We  had  some  very  cold  and  windy  days  near  the  end  of  April, 
the  mercury  falling  to  34°,  and  one  night  of  tempestuous  rain. 
It  would  be  absurd  to  write  of  sufferings,  but  at  that  tempera- 
ture in  an  open  boat,  with  the  roof  lifting  and  flapping  and 
threatening  to  take  its  departure,  it  was  impossible  to  sleep. 
Afterwards  the  weather  was  again  splendid. 

Abrupt  turns,  long  rapids  full  of  jagged  rocks,  long  stretches 
of  deep,  still  water,  abounding  in  fish,  narrow  gorges  walled 
in  by  terraces  of  basalt,  lateral  ravines  disclosing  fine  snow- 
streaked  peaks,  succeeded  each  other,  the  shores  becoming  less 
and  less  peopled,  while  the  parallel  valleys  abounded  in  fairly 
well-to-do  villages.  Just  below  a  long  and  dangerous  rapid  we 
stopped  to  dine,  and  though  the  place  seemed  quite  solitary,  a 
crowd  soon  gathered,  and  sat  on  the  adjacent  stones  talking 
noisily,  trying  to  get  into  the  boat,  lifting  the  mats,  discussing 
whether  it  were  polite  to  watch  people  at  dinner,  some  taking 
one  side  and  some  another,  those  who  were  half  tipsy  taking 
the  affirmative.  Some  said  that  they  had  got  news  from  sev- 
eral miles  below  that  this  great  sight  was  coming  up  the  river, 
and  it  was  a  shame  to  deprive  them  of  it  by  keeping  the  cur- 
tains down.     After  a  good  deal  of  obstreperousness,  mainly  the 


Views  Afloat  97 

result  of  wine,  a  man  overbalanced  himself  and  fell  into  the 
river,  which  raised  a  laugh,  and  then  they  followed  us  good- 
naturedly  up  the  rapid,  one  man  helping  to  track,  and  asking 
as  his  reward  that  his  wife  might  see  me,  on  which  I  exhibited 
myself  on  the  bow  of  the  boat. 

At  the  village  of  Pang-wha  San,  built,  contrary  to  Korean 
practice,  on  a  height  of  800  feet,  there  is  a  stone  platform,  on 
which  was  nightly  lighted  one  of  that  chain  of  beacon  fires  ter- 
minating at  Nam-San  in  Seoul,  which  assured  the  King  that 
his  kingdom  was  at  peace. ^  Another  village,  Ha-chin,  was  im- 
pressive from  the  frightful  ugliness  of  its  women.  After  leav- 
ing Tan-Yang  the  curiosity  increased.  People  walked  great  dis- 
tances to  see  us,  saying  they  had  never  seen  foreigners,  and 
bringing  eggs  to  pay  for  the  sight,  which  I  paid  for,  telling  the 
people  that  we  had  nothing  to  show ;  but  extravagant  rumors 
of  what  was  to  be  seen  in  the  boat  had  preceded  us,  and  as  the 
people  assembled  at  daylight  and  generally  waited  patiently,  I 
always  yielded  to  their  wishes,  raised  the  thatch,  and  made  the 
most  of  the  red  and  white  curtains.  In  one  place  I  gave  them 
some  tea  to  drink.  They  had  never  seen  it,  and  thought  it 
was  medicine,  and  on  tasting  it  said,  *'It  must  be  very  good 
for  indigestion  !  " 

I  The  telegraph  has  now  superseded  this  picturesque  arrangement. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

NATURAL    BEAUTY THE   RAPIDS 

IN  superb  weather,  and  in  the  full  glory  of  spring,  we  con- 
tinued the  exploration  of  the  Han  above  Tan-Yang,  en- 
countering innumerable  rapids,  some  of  them  very  severe  and 
horrible  to  look  upon.  The  river  valley,  continually  narrow- 
ing into  gorges,  rarely  admits  of  hamlets,  and  the  population 
is  relegated  to  lateral  and  parallel  valleys.  On  the  30th  of 
April  we  tugged  and  poled  the  boat  up  seven  long  and  severe 
rapids,  with  deep  still  stretches  of  water  between  them.  The 
flora  increased  in  variety,  and  the  shapes  of  the  mountains  be- 
came very  definite.  Among  other  trees  there  were  a  large 
branching  Acanthopanax  ricinifolia,  two  species  of  euonymus, 
mistletoe  on  the  walnut  and  mulberry,  the  Rhus  semi-alata 
and  Rhus  vernicifera,  pines,  firs,  the  Abies  microsperma,  the 
Actinidia  pueraria,  Elceagmcs,  Spanish  chestnuts  in  great 
groves,  alders,  birches,  maples,  elms,  limes,  and  a  tree  infre- 
quently seen  which  I  believe  to  be  a  Zelkcuva.  Among  the 
flowers,  there  were  marigolds,  buttercups,  scentless  white  and 
purple  violets,  yellow  violas,  white  aconite,  lady's  slipper,  hawk- 
weed,  camomile,  red  and  white  dandelions,  guelder  roses,  wyge- 
lias,  mountain  peonies,  martagon  and  tiger  lilies,  gentians,  pink 
spirea,  yellow  day  lilies,  white  honeysuckle,  the  Iris  Rossii, 
and  many  others. 

The  day  after  leaving  Tan-Yang  we  entered  on  the  most 
beautiful  part  of  the  river.  Great  limestone  cliffs  swing  open 
at  times  to  reveal  glorious  glimpses,  through  fantastic  gorges, 
of  peaks  and  ranges,  partly  forest-covered,  fading  in  the  far 
distance  into  the  delicious  blue  veil  of  dreamland  ;   the  river, 

98 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  99 

occasionally  compressed  by  its  colossal  walls,  vents  its  fury  in 
flurry  and  foam,  or  expands  into  broad  reaches  20  and  even  30 
feet  in  depth,  where  pure  emerald  water  laps  gently  upon  crags 
festooned  with  roses  and  honeysuckle,  or  in  fairy  bays  on  peb- 
bly beaches  and  white  sand.  The  air  was  full  of  gladness. 
The  loud  call  of  the  fearless  ringed  pheasant  was  heard  every- 
where, bees  hummed  and  butterflies  and  dragon-flies  flashed 
through  the  fragrant  air.  What  mattered  it  that  our  ropes 
broke  three  times,  that  we  stuck  on  a  rock  in  a  rapid  and  hung 
there  for  an  hour  in  a  deafening  din  and  a  lather  of  foam,  and 
that  we  "beat  the  record  "  in  only  making  5  miles  in  twelve 
hours  ! 

The  limestone  cliffs  are  much  caverned,  and  near  the  village 
of  To-tam,  where  they  fall  back  considerably  from  the  river, 
we  explored  one  cave  worthy  of  notice,  with  a  fine  entrance 
arch  43  feet  in  height,  admitting  into  a  vault  considerably 
higher,  with  a  roof  of  stalagmites.  We  ascended  this  cavern 
for  315  feet,  and  then  had  to  return  for  lack  of  light.  Near 
the  mouth  a  natural  shaft  and  rock-ladder  give  access  to  a  fine 
upper  gallery  12  feet  high,  only  60  feet  of  which  we  were  able 
to  investigate.  Just  above  To-tam  there  is  another  limestone 
freak  on  the  river  bank,  a  natural  bridge  or  arch,  127  feet  in 
height  and  30  feet  wide,  below  which  a  fair  green  lawn  slopes 
up  to  a  height  above.  The  bridge  is  admirably  buttressed, 
and  draped  with  roses,  honeysuckle,  and  clematis,  and  various 
fantastic  specimens  of  coni ferae  grow  out  of  its  rifts. 

The  beauty  of  the  Han  culminates  at  To-tam  in  the  finest 
river  view  I  had  then  ever  seen,  a  broad  stretch,  with  a  deep  bay 
and  lofty  limestone  cliffs,  between  which,  on  a  green  slope, 
the  picturesque,  deep-eaved,  brown-roofed  houses  of  the  village 
are  built.  The  gray  cliff  is  crowned  with  a  goodly  group  of 
umbrella  pines,  in  Korea  called  ''Parasol  Pines,"  because 
they  resemble  in  shape  those  carried  before  the  King.  Guard- 
ing the  entrance  of  the  bay  are  three  picturesque  jagged  pyram- 
idal  rocks    much    covered  with   the   AmJ>elopsis    VeiUhiatta, 


lOO  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  of  course  sacred  to  daemon  worship.  These  senthiels  are 
from  40  to  83  feet  high.  To  the  southwest  the  Han,  dark  and 
deep,  rolls  out  of  sight  round  a  pine-clad  bluff,  among  the 
magnificent  ranges  of  the  Sol-rak-San  mountains — masses  of 
partially  pine-clothed  peaks  and  pinnacles  of  naked  rock.  To 
the  northeast  the  river  makes  an  abrupt  bend  below  superb 
limestone  cliffs,  and  disappears  at  the  foot  of  Solmi-San,  a 
triplet  of  lofty  peaks.  To-tam  on  its  park-like  slopes  embraces 
this  view,  and  were  it  not  for  the  rapids  and  their  delays  and 
risks,  might  be  a  delightful  summer  resort  from  Seoul. 

There  is  fertility  as  well  as  grandeur,  for  the  ridge  behind 
the  village,  abrupt  on  the  riverside,  falls  gently  down  on  the 
other  to  a  broad,  well- watered  level  valley,  cultivated  for  rice 
with  extreme  neatness  and  care,  and  which,  after  gladdening 
the  eye  with  its  productiveness  for  several  miles,  winds  out  of 
view  among  the  mountains. 

There,  and  in  most  parts  of  the  Han  valley,  I  was  much 
surprised  with  the  neatness  of  the  cultivation.  It  was  not 
what  the  reports  of  other  travellers  had  led  me  to  expect,  and 
it  gives  me  the  impression  that  the  river  passes  through  one  of 
the  most  productive  and  prosperous  portions  of  Korea.  The 
crops  of  wheat  and  barley  were  usually  superb,  and  remarkably 
free  from  weeds — in  fact,  the  cleanliness  would  do  credit  to 
''high  farming"  in  the  Lothians.  It  was  no  uncommon 
thing  to  find  from  12  to  18  stalks  as  the  product  of  one  grain. 
At  the  end  of  April  the  barley  was  in  ear,  and  beginning  to 
change  color,  and  the  wheat  was  6  inches  high.  As  a  general 
rule  the  stones  were  carefully  picked  off  the  land  and  were 
used  for  retaining  walls  for  the  rice  terraces,  or  piled  in  heaps. 
Steep  hillsides  were  being  cleared  of  scrub  and  stones  for  cot- 
ton planting,  and  in  many  instances  the  cultivation  is  carried 
to  a  height  of  1,000  feet,  the  cultivators  always,  however,  liv- 
ing in  the  holes.  All  the  parallel  valleys  are  neatly  and  care- 
fully cultivated.  The  favorable  climate,  with  its  abundant, 
but  not  superabundant,  rainfall,  renders  irrigation  needless, 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  loi 

except  in  the  case  of  rice.  Every  valley  has  its  streamlet,  and 
is  barred  across  by  dykes  of  mud  from  its  head  down  to  the 
Han,  rice,  with  tobacco,  beans,  hemp,  and  cotton,  being  the 
great  articles  of  export.  On  the  whole,  I  was  very  agreeably 
surprised  with  the  agriculture  of  the  Han  valley,  and  doubt 
not  that  it  is  capable  of  enormous  development  if  the  earnings 
of  industry  were  secure.  The  soil  is  most  prolific,  heavy 
crops  being  raised  without  the  aid  of  fertilizers. 

After  leaving  beautiful  To-tam,  the  rapids  become  more  and 
more  frequent  and  exasperating,  and  when  Kim  sank  down, 
playing  upon  my  feelings  by  well-simulated  exhaustion,  I 
feared  it  would  soon  become  real.  The  ropes  broke  frequently, 
and  the  constant  scraping  and  bumping  over  rocks  increased 
the  leakiness  of  the  boat  so  much,  that  in  a  lovely  reach, 
where  crystal  water  rippled  on  the  white  sand,  I  pitched  my 
tent,  and  unloaded  and  beached  the  craft  for  repairs.  In  one 
strong  deep  rapid  that  day  the  rope  parted,  and  the  boat 
swirled  down  the  surges,  striking  rocks  as  she  spun  down  with 
such  effect  as  to  spoil  a  number  of  photographic  negatives  and 
soak  my  bedding. 

At  the  beautifully  situated  village  of  Pa-ka  Mi,  a  post  bore 
the  following  inscription  in  large  characters — "  If  any  servant 
of  a  yafig-baii  passing  through  Pa-ka  Mi  is  polite  and  behaves 
well,  all  right,  but  if  he  beliaves  badly  he  will  be  beaten,"  an 
assertion  of  independence  as  refreshing  as  it  is  rare  ! 

For  among  the  curses  of  Korea  is  the  existence  of  this  priv- 
ileged class  of  yang-bans  or  nobles,  who  must  not  work  for 
their  own  living,  though  it  is  no  disgrace  to  be  supported  by 
their  relations,  and  who  often  live  on  the  clandestine  industry 
of  their  wives  in  sewing  and  laundry  work.  A  yang-ban  car- 
ries nothing  for  himself,  not  even  his  pipe.  Yang-ban  stu- 
dents do  not  even  carry  their  books  from  their  studies  to  the 
classroom.  Custom  insist  that  when  a  member  of  this  class 
travels  he  shall  take  with  him  as  many  attendants  as  he  can 
muster.     He  is  supported  on  his  led  horse,  and  supreme  help- 


102  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

lessness  is  the  conventional  requirement.  His  servants  brow- 
beat and  bully  the  people  and  take  their  fowls  and  eggs  with- 
out payment,  which  explains  the  meaning  of  the  notice  at 
Pa-ka  Mi.i 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  people,  /.  e.  the  vast  mass  of  the 
unprivileged,  on  whose  shoulders  rests  the  burden  of  taxation, 
are  hard  pressed  by  the  yang-bans,  who  not  only  use  their 
labor  without  paying  for  it,  but  make  merciless  exactions  under 
the  name  of  loans.  As  soon  as  it  is  rumored  or  known  that  a 
merchant  or  peasant  has  laid  up  a  certain  amount  of  cash,  a 
ya?ig-ban  or  official  seeks  a  loan.  Practically  it  is  a  levy,  for 
if  it  is  refused  the  man  is  either  thrown  into  prison  on  a  false 
charge  and  whipped  every  morning  until  he  or  his  relations 
pay  the  sum  demanded,  or  he  is  seized  and  practically  im- 
prisoned on  low  diet  in  the  yaug-baii's  house  until  the  money 
is  forthcoming.  It  is  the  best  of  the  nobles  who  disguise  their 
exactions  under  the  name  of  loans,  but  the  lender  never  sees 
principal  or  interest.  It  is  a  very  common  thing  for  a  noble, 
when  he  buys  a  house  or  field,  to  dispense  with  paying  for  it, 
and  no  mandarin  will  enforce  payment.  At  Paik-kui  Mi, 
where  I  paid  off  my  boatmen,  the  yang-ban's  servants  were 
impressing  all  the  boats  for  the  purpose  of  taking  roofing  tiles 
to  Seoul  without  payment.  Kim  begged  me  to  give  him  some 
trifle  to  take  down  the  river,  with  a  few  cash  as  payment,  and 
a  line  to  say  that  the  boat  was  in  my  employment,  service  with 
a  foreigner  being  a  protection  from  such  an  exaction. 

There  were  two  days  more  of  most  severe  toil,  in  which  it 
was  scarcely  possible  to  make  any  progress.  The  rapids  were 
frightful,  and  when  we  reached  a  very  bad  one  below  the  town 
of  Yong-chhun,  Kim,  after  making  several  abortive  efforts, 
not,  I  think,  in  good  faith,  to  ascend  it,  collapsed,  and  said  he 
could  not  get  up  any  higher.  At  another  season  boats  of  light 
draught  can  ascend  to  Yang-wol,  20  //  farther.     We  had  per- 

» Class  privileges  are  now  abolished,  on  paper  at  least,  but  their  tradi- 
tion carries  weight. 


Natural  Beauty— The  Rapids  103 

formed  a  great  feat  in  getting  up  to  Yong-chhun  in  early  May. 
There  were  no  boats  on  the  higher  waters,  and  for  much  of 
the  distance  my  sa7npa7i  could  hardly  be  said  to  be  afloat.  At 
Yong-chhun  we  were  within  40  miles  of  the  Sea  of  Japan. 

Wind  and  heavy  rain  which  raised  the  river  forbade  all  lo- 
comotion until  the  following  evening,  when  we  crossed  the 
Han  and  reached  the  Yong-chhun  ferry  by  a  pretty  road 
through  a  village  and  a  wood,  most  attractive  country,  with 
many  novelties  in  its  flora.  At  the  ferry  a  still  expanse  of  the 
Han  is  over  10  feet  deep,  but  the  roar  of  another  rapid  is 
heard  immediately  above.  A  double  avenue  of  noble  elms 
with  fine  turf  underneath  them  leads  to  the  town,  a  magistracy 
of  1,500  people,  a  quiet  market-place  without  shops,  situated 
in  a  rich  farming  basin  of  alluvial  soil,  covered  in  May  with 
heavy  crops  of  barley  and  wheat,  among  which  were  fields 
hillocked  for  melons. 

The  magistracy  buildings  are  large  and  rambling,  with  what 
has  been  a  fine  entrance  gate,  with  a  drum  and  other  instru- 
ments of  aural  torture  for  making  the  deafening  din  with  which 
the  yamen  is  closed  and  opened  at  sunrise  and  sunset.  There 
are  many  stone  tablets  (not  spontaneously  erected)  to  worthy 
officials,  a  large  enclosure  in  which  sacrifices  are  offered  to 
*'  Heaven  "  (probably  to  the  Spirits  of  the  Land),  a  Confucian 
temple,  and  a  king's  pavilion,  all  very  squalid  and  ruinous. 

A  crowd  not  altogether  polite  followed  us  to  the  yamen,  where 
I  hoped  that  some  information  regarding  an  overland  route 
to  the  Diamond  Mountain  might  be  obtained.  On  enter- 
ing the  yamen  precincts  the  underling  officials  were  most 
insolent,  and  it  was  only  after  enduring  their  unpleasant  be- 
havior for  some  time  that  we  were  conducted  to  a  squalid  inner 
room,  where  a  deputy-mandarin  sat  on  the  floor  with  a  smok- 
ing apparatus  beside  him,  a  man  with  a  scornful  and  sinister 
physiognomy,  who  took  not  the  slightest  notice  of  us,  and 
when  he  deigned  to  speak  gave  curt  replies  through  an  under- 
ling, while  we  stood  outside  the  entrance,  withstanding  with 


104  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

difficulty  the  pressure  of  the  crowd,  which  had  surged  in  after 
us,  private  interviews  being  rare  in  the  East.  This  was  my 
last  visit  to  a  Korean  yamen. 

As  we  walked  back  to  the  town,  the  crowd  followed  us 
closely,  led  by  some  "swells"  of  the  literary  class.  One 
young  man  came  up  behind  me  and  kicked  me  on  the  ankle, 
stepping  back  and  then  coming  forward  and  repeating  the  of- 
fense. He  was  about  to  give  me  a  third  kick,  when  Mr. 
Miller  turned  round  and  very  quietly,  without  anger,  dealt  him  a 
scientific  blow  on  the  chest,  which  sent  him  off  the  road  upon 
his  back  into  a  barley  field.  There  was  a  roar  of  laughter 
from  the  crowd,  and  the  young  bully's  companions  begged 
Mr.  Miller  not  to  punish  him  any  more.  The  crowd  dispersed, 
the  bullies,  cowards  like  all  their  species,  fell  far  behind,  and 
we  had  a  pleasant  walk  back  to  the  ferry,  where,  although  we 
had  to  wait  a  long  time  in  the  ferry  boat,  there  was  no  as- 
semblage, and  the  ferryman  and  passengers  were  very  civil. 
Mr.  Miller  regretted  the  necessity  for  inflicting  punishment. 
It  was  Lynch  law  no  doubt,  but  it  was  summary  justice,  and 
the  perfect  coolness  with  which  it  was  administered  would  no 
doubt  leave  a  salutary  impression.  The  ferryman  told  us  that 
a  tiger  had  carried  off  a  pig  from  Yong-chhun  the  previous 
night,  and  said  that  the  walk  to  our  boat  through  the  wood 
without  lanterns  was  very  unsafe.  Our  boatmen  had  become 
alarmed  and  were  hunting  for  us  with  torches.  The  circum- 
stances were  eerie,  and  I  was  glad  to  see  the  lights. 

Ferries  are  free.  The  Government  provides  the  broad, 
strong  boats  which  are  used  for  ferrying  cattle  as  well  as 
people,  and  the  villages  provide  the  ferrymen  with  food. 
Passengers  who  are  not  poor  usually  give  a  small  douceur. 

A  gale  of  wind  with  torrents  of  rain  set  in  that  night,  and 
the  rain  continued  till  the  next  afternoon,  giving  me  an  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  more  of  the  detail  of  the  magnificent  cliffs  of 
laminated  limestone,  which  occur  frequently,  and  are  the  most 
striking    geological    features   of  the    Han    valley,  continually 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  105 

presenting  the  appearance  of  the  leaves  of  a  colossal  book. 
Above  the  Yong-chhun  rapid,  on  a  steep  and  almost  inacces- 
sible declivity,  buttressed  by  these  cliffs,  are  the  remains  of  a 
very  ancient  fortress,  the  outer  wall  of  which,  enclosing  the 
summit  of  the  hill,  is  2,500  feet  in  circumference,  25  feet  high 
on  the  outside,  from  i  to  12  feet  on  the  inside,  and  from  9  to 
12  feet  thick.  It  is  so  arranged  that  its  two  gates,  which  open 
on  nearly  direct  descents  of  20  feet,  and  are  approached  by 
very  narrow  pathways,  could  only  admit  one  man  at  a  time. 
It  was  obviously  incapable  of  reduction  by  any  force  but 
starvation.  No  mortar  is  used  in  the  walls,  which  are  very 
efficiently  built  of  small  slabs  of  stone  never  more  than  6 
inches  thick.  The  people  have  no  traditions  of  its  construc- 
tion, but  Mr.  Miller,  who  is  familiar  with  the  fortresses  of  Nam- 
San  and  Puk  Han,  thinks  that  it  is  of  a  much  earlier  date  than 
either.  One  of  the  signal  fire  stations  is  visible  from  this  point 
on  the  river. 

On  the  3rd  of  May  we  began  the  descent  of  the  Han. 
The  worn-out  ropes  were  used  for  the  cooking  fire,  the  poles 
were  stowed  away,  and  paddles  took  their  place.  The  heavy 
rains  had  raised  the  river  a  foot,  and  changed  its  bright  waters 
into  a  turbid  flood,  down  which  we  often  descended  in  two 
minutes  distances  which  had  taken  two  laborious  hours  on  the 
upward  journey,  flying  down  the  centre  of  the  stream  instead 
of  crawling  up  the  sides.  Many  small  disasters  occurred. 
Several  times  the  boat  was  nearly  swamped  by  heavy  surges, 
or  shivered  by  striking  sunken  rocks ;  or,  losing  steerage  way, 
spun  round  and  round,  progressing  downwards  with  many  gy- 
rations, usually  stern  foremost,  amidst  billows  and  foam,  but 
Kim,  who  was  at  his  best  on  such  occasions,  usually  contrived 
to  bring  her  to  shore,  bow  on,  at  the  foot  of  the  rapid.  On 
one  occasion,  however,  in  a  long  rapid,  in  which  the  surges 
were  high  and  strong,  by  some  mismanagement,  regarding 
which  the  boatmen  quarrelled  for  an  hour  afterwards,  the  sam- 
pan  shipped  such  heavy  seas  from  both  sides  as  nearly  to 


lo6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

swamp  her.  I  was  all  but  washed  off  my  camp-bed,  which 
was  on  a  level  with  the  gunwale  ;  a  number  of  sheets  of  geo- 
graphical notes  were  washed  away,  some  instruments  belong- 
ing to  the  R.G.S.  were  drowned  in  their  box,  more  than  forty 
photographic  negatives  were  destroyed,  and  clothing,  bedding, 
and  flour  were  all  soaked  !  The  rapids  were  in  fact  most  ex- 
citing, and  their  risks  throw  those  of  the  Fu  and  the  Yangtze 
from  Cheng-tu  to  Ichang  quite  into  the  shade. 

In  spite  of  a  delay  of  half  a  day  at  Tan-Yang,  owing  to  a 
futile  attempt  to  get  cash  for  silver,  and  another  half-day  spent 
in  beaching  and  repairing  the  boat,  which  had  been  badly 
bumped  on  a  rock,  we  did  the  distance  from  Nang-chhon  to 
Ma-chai  on  the  forks  in  four  and  a  half  days,  or  less  than  a 
third  of  the  time  taken  by  the  laborious  ascent. 

The  penniless  situation  became  so  serious  that  one  day  be- 
fore reaching  Ma-chai  I  had  to  decide  on  returning  to  Seoul 
for  cash  !  The  treasuries  were  said  to  be  empty  ;  no  one  be- 
lieved in  silver  or  knew  anything  about  it,  and  supplies  could 
not  be  obtained.  Fortunately  we  arrived  at  the  market-place 
of  Ma-Kyo,  a  village  of  1,850  people,  on  the  market  day,  and 
the  pedlars  gladly  exchanged  cash  for  35  silver /<?«  at  the  rate 
of  3,000,  and  would  willingly  have  changed  70.  It  took  six 
men  to  carry  the  coin  to  the  boat,  which  was  once  more  sub- 
stantially ballasted.  Ma-Kyo  is  the  river  port  of  Che-chon, 
and  has  an  unusually  flourishing  aspect,  boasting  of  many 
good  houses  with  tiled  roofs.  It  exports  rice,  beans,  and  grain 
from  the  very  rich  agricultural  country  on  both  sides  of  the 
river,  and  imports  foreign  cottons,  Korean  sackcloth,  and  salt. 
Cotton  in  20  cash  the  measure  of  20  inches  dearer  at  Ma-Kyo 
than  in  Seoul,  and  at  Nang-chhon  70  cash  dearer. 

When  we  reached  the  forks  at  Ma-chai,  the  boatmen,  who 
were  tired  of  the  trip,  wanted  to  go  back,  but  eventually  they 
were  induced  to  fulfil  their  contract,  and  we  entered  the  north 
branch  of  the  Han  on  a  cool,  glorious  afternoon,  following  on 
a  night  and  morning  of  wind  and  rain.     This  north  branch 


Natural  Beauty— The  Rapids  107 

also  rises  in  the  Keum-kang  San  or  Diamond  Mountain  in  the 
province  of  Kong-won,  and  after  a  turbulent  course  of  about 
98  miles  unites  with  the  southern  and  larger  branch  of  the 
Han  about  two  days'  journey  from  Seoul.     For  a  considerable 
distance  the  country  which  it  drains  is  populous  and  well  cul- 
tivated, and  the  hills  of  its  higher  reaches  provide  much  of 
the  timber  which  is  used  in  Seoul,  as  well  as  a  large  proportion 
of  the  firewood  and  charcoal.     The  timber  is  made  up  into 
very  peculiar  rafts,  which  come  down  at  high  water,  but  even 
then   are    frequently  demolished    in    the   rapids.     The   river 
widens  out  above  Ma-chai,  and   for  a  considerable  distance 
has  an  average  breadth  of  440  yards,  but  as  a  rule  it  is  shal- 
low, and  its  bottom  dangerously  rocky,  and  it  has  incessant 
rapids  full  of  jagged  rocks,  some  of  which  are  very  dangerous, 
and  so  ''  ugly  "  that  as  I  went  up  them  I  was  truly  glad  that  I 
had  not  to  descend  them.     Many  a  long,  hard  tug  and  broken 
hawser  we  had,  but  succeeded  in  hauling  the  sampan  7  miles 
above  the  limit  of  low  water  navigation,  which  is  the  same 
distance  from  the  termination  of  boat  traffic  at  high  water.     I 
estimate  the  distance  from  Ma-chai  to  Ut-Kiri,  where  further 
progress  was  stopped  by  an  insurmountable  rapid,  at  76  miles, 
which  took  nine  days,  though  Kim  and  his  man,  anxious  to 
go  home,  worked  much  harder  than  on  our  earlier  trip. 

For  the  first  few  days  there  are  villages  every  quarter  of  a 
mile,  and  lateral  and  parallel  valleys,  then  rich  in  clean  crops 
of  barley  and  wheat.  The  river  villages  are  surrounded  by 
groves  of  Spanish  chestnut,  mulberry,  cherry,  persimmons,  and 
weeping  willows.  There  are  deep  crateriform  cavities,  now 
full  of  trees  and  abundant  vegetation.  The  hills  are  covered 
with  oak  scrub,  affording  cover  for  tigers,  which  appear  to 
abound.  The  characteristics  of  the  villages  and  the  agricul- 
ture hardly  vary  from  those  on  the  south  branch,  except  that 
the  potato  is  more  extensively  grown.  The  absence  of  provin- 
cial and  local  peculiarities  is  a  feature  of  Korea.  An  alley  in 
Seoul  may  serve  for  a  village  street  anywhere  else. 


io8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Gold  in  small  quantities  is  found  along  the  river,  and  rumor 
says  that  Ur-rop-so,  a  conical  hill  near  the  dangerous  rapid  of 
Chum-yol,  is  rich  in  it,  but  that  the  district  official  prohibits 
digging.  Higher  up  a  number  of  men  were  washing  for  gold. 
Their  apparatus  consists  of  a  wooden  sieve  or  gridiron,  on 
which  the  supposed  auriferous  earth  is  placed  above  a  deep 
wooden  tray,  and  rocked  under  water  till  the  heavier  stuff 
passes  through,  to  be  again  rocked  in  search  of  the  glittering 
particles.  The  results  are  placed  on  the  river  bank  in  pieces 
of  broken  pottery,  each  watched  by  a  man.  The  earth  is  ob- 
tained by  removing  the  heavy  shingle  of  the  river  bank  and 
digging  up  the  sand  to  a  depth  of  about  2  feet,  when  rock  is 
reached.  From  60  to  100  trays  are  equal  to  a  bushel  and  a 
half,  and  the  yield  of  this  quantity  averages  half  a  thimbleful 
of  gold  in  a  state  of  fine  subdivision.  These  gold-washers 
seldom  make  more  than  i6s.  per  month,  and  only  about  50s. 
when  working  in  the  best  goldfields. 

Gold  ornaments  are  rarely  seen  in  Korea,  gold  is  scarcely  if 
at  all  used  in  the  arts  (if  arts  there  are),  and  gold  coins  do  not 
exist.  Nevertheless,  as  is  shown  by  the  Customs  Reports,  the 
quantity  of  gold  dust  exported,  chiefly  to  Japan,  is  very  far 
from  being  despicable,  although  the  reefs  which  presumably 
contain  the  metal,  of  which  the  washings  are  the  proof,  have 
not  yet  been  touched.  The  fees  paid  by  the  miners  to  the 
Government  vary  with  the  locality.  Gold-digging  without 
Government  authorization  is  prohibited  by  law  under  most 
severe  penalties.  Among  the  richest  goldfields  in  Korea  are 
Phyong  Kang,  not  far  from  the  Han,  and  Keum-San  in 
Phyong-an  Do,  not  far  from  the  Tai-dong.  The  larger  wash- 
ings collect  as  elsewhere  the  scum  of  the  country,  and  riots 
often  occur  among  the  miners.  I  know  not  on  which  subject 
the  Korean  is  the  more  voluble,  tigers  or  gold.  He  is  proud 
of  Korea  as  a  gold-producing  country,  and  speaks  as  if  its  dust 
were  golden  sand  ! 

The  groves  of  Spanish  chestnuts  with  which  the  North  Han 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  109 

is  fringed  gave  off  an  overpowering  odor.  Their  fruit  is  an 
important  article  of  diet.  Usually  the  arable  land  below  the 
villages  is  little  more  than  a  terrace,  but  on  the  hillsides  above 
the  grain  rippled  in  long  yellow  waves  in  the  breeze,  and  the 
hills  constantly  swing  apart  and  reveal  terraced  valleys  and 
brown  orchard  embowered  hamlets ;  or  slightly  receding,  ex- 
pose stretches  of  white  sand  or  heaps  of  fantastic  boulders. 

After  two  days  of  severe  work  we  reached  the  beautifully 
situated  town  of  Ka-phyong,  which  straggles  along  the  valley 
of  a  small  tributary  of  the  Han  on  slopes  backed  by  high 
mountains  which,  following  the  usual  Korean  custom,  are  with- 
out names.  The  bright  green  of  the  wheat  fields,  varied  by 
the  darker  green  of  clumps  of  conifers  and  chestnuts,  arranged 
as  if  by  a  landscape  gardener,  and  the  lines  of  trees  along  the 
river  bank  were  enchanting,  but  Ka-phyong  does  not  bear 
close  inspection.  The  telegraph  wire  from  Seoul  to  Won-san 
crosses  the  river  at  Sin-gang  Kam,  and  there  is  actually  a  tele- 
graph station  at  Chun-chon,  the  most  important  town  of  that 
region,  at  which  messages  are  received  and  sent  about  once  a 
month  ! 

Chun-chon  is  four  miles  from  the  Han  on  its  left  bank.  It 
is  fortified,  and  has  nominally  a  garrison  of  300  men.  Hav- 
ing a  population  of  3,000,  and  being  in  the  centre  of  a  fine 
agricultural  district,  it  is  a  place  of  some  trade,  as  trade  is 
understood  in  Korea.  Just  below  it  the  Han,  after  running 
for  some  distance  below  a  lofty  quartz  ridge,  makes  an  abrupt 
turn  and  penetrates  it,  the  walls  of  the  passage  having  the 
regularity  of  a  railway  cutting,  while  the  bed  of  the  stream  is 
of  pure  white  quartz. 

Beyond  this  singular  gateway  the  river  valley  opens  out,  and 
the  spectacle,  rare  in  Korea,  of  cattle  is  to  be  seen.  Indeed, 
I  only  once  saw  cattle  feeding  elsewhere.  The  grass  is  coarse 
and  sour,  and  hand  feeding  is  customary.  It  was  most  pleas- 
ant to  be  awoke  in  the  dewy  morning  by  bellowing  of  cattle, 
shouts  and  laughter  of  boys  and  yelping  of  dogs,  as  bulls  old 


no  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  young  were  driven  to  the  river  bank  to  be  tethered  in  the 
flowery  grass.  The  frolicsome  bull  calves,  which  are  brought 
up  in  the  Korean  home,  and  are  attended  to  by  the  children, 
who  are  their  natural  playmates,  develop  under  such  treatment 
into  that  maturity  of  mingled  gentleness  and  stateliness  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  Korean  bull, — the  one  grand  thing  re- 
maining to  Korea.  When  full  grown  a  bull  can  carry  from 
350  to  500  lbs.  They  are  fed  on  boiled  beans,  cut  millet 
stalks,  and  cut  pea  haulm,  and  the  water  in  which  the  beans 
are  boiled.  They  are  led  by  a  rope  passed  round  the  horns 
from  a  bamboo  ring  in  the  nose.  The  prevailing  color  is  a 
warm  red,  and  the  huge  animal  in  build  much  resembles  the 
shorthorn.  The  Korean  cow,  which  is  to  be  seen  carrying 
loads  in  Northern  Korea,  is  a  worthy  dam  of  such  a  splendid 
progeny. 

The  scenery,  though  always  pretty,  becomes  monotonous 
after  a  few  days,  and  monotonous  too  were  the  adventures  in 
the  rapids,  which  were  innumerable,  and  the  ceaseless  toiling, 
dragging,  and  tugging  they  involved.  Reaching  Won-chon,  a 
post  station  on  the  road  to  Won-san,  we  halted  and  engaged 
horses  for  a  land  journey,  at  a  very  high  rate,  but  they  and 
their  mapu  or  grooms  turned  out  well,  and  as  Wong  senten- 
tiously  remarked,  ''  If  you  pay  well,  you  will  be  served  well." 
The  agreement,  which  I  caused  to  be  put  into  writing,  and 
which  I  made  use  of  in  other  journeys,  with  much  mutual 
satisfaction,  was  duly  signed,  and  we  continued  the  boat 
journey. 

After  spending  half  a  day  at  the  prefectural  town  of  Nang- 
chhon,  where  I  am  glad  to  record  that  the  officials  were  very 
courteous,  we  ascended  the  Han  to  a  point  above  the  wild 
hamlet  of  Ut-Kiri,  on  a  severe  rapid  full  of  jagged  rocks. 
Ut-Kiri  is  above  the  head  of  low  water  navigation,  but  in  two 
summer  months  during  the  rains  small  boats  can  reach  Ku-mu- 
nio,  "  the  last  village,"  20  //  higher.  It  was  a  wild  termina- 
tion of  the  long  boat  journey.     An  abrupt  turn  of  the  river, 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  in 

and  its  monotonous  prettiness  is  left  behind,  and  there  is  a 
superb  mountain  view  of  saddleback  ridges  and  lofty  gray 
peaks  surrounding  a  dark  expanse  of  water,  with  a  margin  of 
gray  boulders  and  needles  of  gray  rock  draped  with  the 
Ampelopsis,  a  yellow  clematis,  and  a  white  honeysuckle.  It 
was  somewhat  sad  not  to  be  able  to  penetrate  the  grim  austerity 
to  the  northward,  but  the  rapids  were  so  severe  and  the  water 
ofttimes  so  shallow  that  it  was  impossible  to  drag  the  sampan 
farther,  though  at  that  time  she  only  drew  2  inches  of  water. 
From  Ma-chai  on  the  forks  she  had  been  poled  and  dragged 
up  forty  rapids,  making  eighty-six  on  the  whole  journey. 

From  the  thinly  peopled  solitudes  of  these  upper  waters  we 
descended  rapidly,  though  not  without  some  severe  bumps,  to 
the  populous  river  banks,  where  villages  are  half  hidden  among 
orchards  and  chestnut  and  mulberry  groves,  and  the  crops  are 
heavy,  and  that  abundance  of  the  necessaries  of  life  which  in 
Korea  passes  for  prosperity  is  the  rule. 

Ta-rai,  a  neat,  prosperous  place  of  240  people,  among 
orchards,  and  hillsides  terraced  and  bearing  superb  crops,  is 
an  example  of  the  riverine  villages.  Its  houses  are  built  step 
above  step  along  the  sides  of  a  ravine,  down  which  a  perennial 
stream  flows,  affording  water  power  for  an  automatic  rice  hull- 
ing machine.  For  exports  and  imports  the  Han  at  high 
water  is  a  cheap  and  convenient  highway.  The  hill  slopes 
above  the  village,  with  their  rich  soil,  afford  space  for  agricul- 
tural expansion  for  years  to  come.  And  not  to  dwell  alto- 
gether on  the  material,  there  is  a  shrine  of  much  repute  on  a 
fork-like  slope  near  the  river.  It  contains  a  group  of  mirioks, 
in  this  case  stones  worn  by  the  action  of  water  into  the  sem- 
blance of  human  beings.  The  central  figure,  larger  than  life, 
may  even  to  a  dull  imagination  represent  a  person  carrying  an 
infant,  and  its  eyes,  nose,  and  mouth  are  touched  in  with 
China  ink.  It  is  surrounded  by  Phallic  symbols  and  mirioks, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  represent  children,  and  women 
make  prayers  and  offerings  in  this  shrine  in  the  hope  of  ob- 


112  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

taining  a  much  coveted  increase  in  their  families,  for  male 
children  are  still  regarded  as  a  blessing  in  Korea,  and  ''  happy 
is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full  of  them." 

Ka  phyong  again,  a  small  prefectural  town  of  400  houses  i}4 
miles  from  the  river,  is  a  good  specimen  of  the  small  towns  of 
the  Han  valley,  with  a  ruinous  ya/^i en,  of  course,  with  its  non- 
producing  mob  of  hangers-on.  It  is  on  the  verge  of  an  alluvial 
plain,  rolling  up  to  picturesque  hills,  gashed  by  valleys, 
abounding  in  hamlets  surrounded  by  chestnut  groves  and  care- 
ful cultivation.  The  slopes  above  Ka-phyong  break  up  into 
knolls  richly  wooded  with  conifers  and  hard-wood  trees,  fring- 
ing off  into  clumps  and  groups  which  would  not  do  discredit 
to  the  slopes  of  Windsor.  The  people  of  a  large  district  bring 
their  produce  into  the  town,  and  barter  it  for  goods  in  the 
market.  The  telegraph  wire  to  Won-san  crosses  the  affluent 
on  which  Ka-phyong  is  built,  and  is  carried  along  a  bridle 
path  which  for  some  //  runs  along  the  river  bank.  Junks 
loaded  10  feet  above  their  gunwales,  as  well  as  4  feet  outside 
of  them  with  firewood,  and  large  rafts  were  waiting  for  the 
water  to  rise.  Boats  were  being  built  and  great  quantities  of 
the  strong  rope  used  for  towing  and  other  purposes,  which  is 
made  from  a  "creeper"  which  grows  profusely  in  Central 
Korea,  were  awaiting  water  carriage.  Yet  Ka-phyong,  like 
other  small  Korean  towns,  has  no  life  or  go.  Its  ''  merchants  " 
are  but  pedlars,  its  commercial  ideas  do  not  rise  above  those 
of  the  huckster,  and  though  poverty,  as  we  understand  it,  is 
unknown,  prosperity  as  we  understand  it  is  absent.  There  are 
no  special  industries  in  any  of  the  riverine  towns,  and  if  they 
were  all  to  disappear  in  some  catastrophe  it  would  not  cause  a 
ripple  on  the  surface  of  the  general  commercial  apathy  of  the 
country. 

Similar  remarks  apply  to  the  prefectural  town  of  Nang- 
chhon,  where  we  again  wasted  some  hours,  while  Kim's  rice 
was  first  bargained  for  and  then  cleaned.  At  that  point  there 
is  a  fine  deep  stretch  of  the  river  230  yards  broad  abounding 


Natural  Beauty — The  Rapids  1 1 3 

in  fish.  From  Nang-chhon  we  dropped  down  the  Han  to  a 
deep  and  pretty  bay  on  which  the  small  village  of  Paik-kui  Mi 
is  situated,  where  we  halted  for  Sunday,  our  last  day  in  the 
sampan,  which  had  been  a  not  altogether  comfortless  home  for 
five  weeks  and  a  half. 


CHAPTER  IX 

KOREAN    MARRIAGE   CUSTOMS 

PAIK-KUI  MI  was  not  without  a  certain  degree  of  life  on  that 
Sunday.  A  yang-ban' s  steward  impressed  boats  for  the 
gratuitous  carriage  of  tiles  to  Seoul,  which  caused  a  little  fee- 
ble excitement  among  the  junkmen.  There  was  a  sick  person, 
and  a  mutang  or  female  exorcist  was  engaged  during  the  whole 
day  in  the  attempt  to  expel  the  malevolent  daemon  which  was 
afflicting  him,  the  process  being  accompanied  by  the  constant 
beating  of  a  drum  and  the  loud  vibrating  sound  of  large  cym- 
bals. Lastly,  there  was  a  marriage,  and  this  deserves  more 
than  a  passing  notice,  marriage,  burial,  and  exorcism,  with 
their  ceremonials,  being  the  outstanding  features  of  Korea.^ 

The  Korean  is  nobody  until  he  is  married.  He  is  a  being 
of  no  account,  a  ''hobbledehoy."  The  wedding-day  is  the 
entrance  on  respectability  and  manhood,  and  marks  a  leap  up- 
wards on  the  social  ladder.  The  youth,  with  long  abundant 
hair  divided  in  the  middle  and  plaited  at  the  back,  wearing  a 
short,  girdled  coat,  and  looking  as  if  he  had  no  place  in  the 
world  though  he  may  be  quite  grown  up,  and  who  is  always 
taken  by  strangers  for  a  girl,  is  transformed  by  the  formal  re- 
ciprocal salutations  which  constitute  the  binding  ceremony  of 
marriage.  He  has  received  the  tonsure,  and  the  long  hair  sur- 
rounding it  is  drawn  into  the  now  celebrated  ''topknot." 
He  is  invested  with  the  mangan,  a  crownless  skullcap  or  fillet 
of  horsehair,  without  which,  thereafter,  he  is  never  seen.     He 

1  The  notes  on  marriage  customs  which  follow  were  given  me  by  Eng- 
lish-speaking Koreans  and  were  taken  down  at  the  time.  They  apply 
chiefly  to  the  middle  class. 

114 


Korean  Marriage  Customs  115 

wears  a  black  hat  and  a  long  full  coat,  and  his  awkward  gait 
is  metamorphosed  into  a  dignified  swing.  His  boy  companions 
have  become  his  inferiors.  His  name  takes  the  equivalent  of 
"  Mr."  after  it;  honorifics  must  be  used  in  addressing  him — 
in  short,  from  being  a  ''  nobody  "  he  becomes  a  ''  somebody." 

A  girl  by  marrying  fulfils  her  '' manifest  destiny."  Spins- 
terhood  in  Korea  is  relegated  to  the  Buddhist  nunneries,  where 
it  has  no  reputation  for  sanctity.  Absolutely  secluded  in  the 
inner  court  of  her  father's  house  from  the  age  of  seven,  a  girl 
passes  about  the  age  of  seventeen  to  the  absolute  seclusion  of 
the  inner  rooms  of  her  father-in-law's  house.  The  old  ties  are 
broken,  and  her  husband's  home  is  thenceforth  her  prison.  It 
is  *<  custom."  It  is  only  to  our  thinking  that  the  custom 
covers  a  felt  hardship.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  young 
couples  do  not  choose  each  other.  The  marriage  is  arranged 
by  the  fathers,  and  is  consented  to  as  a  matter  of  course.  A 
man  gains  the  reputation  of  being  a  neglectful  father  who 
allows  his  son  to  reach  the  age  of  twenty  unmarried.  Seven- 
teen or  eighteen  is  the  usual  age  at  which  a  man  marries.  A 
girl  may  go  through  the  marriage  ceremony  as  a  mere  child  if 
her  parents  think  an  "  eligible  "  may  slip  through  their  fingers, 
but  she  is  not  obliged  to  assume  the  duties  of  wifehood  till  she 
is  sixteen.  On  the  other  hand,  boys  of  ten  and  twelve  years 
of  age  are  constantly  married  when  their  parents  for  any  reason 
wish  to  see  the  affair  settled  and  a  desirable  connection  pre- 
sents itself,  and  the  yellow  hats  and  pink  and  blue  coats  and 
attempted  dignity  of  these  boy  bridegrooms  are  among  the 
sights  of  the  cities. 

A  go-between  is  generally  employed  for  the  preliminary  ar- 
rangements. No  money  is  given  to  the  bride's  father  by  the 
bridegroom,  nor  does  the  daughter  receive  a  dowry,  but  she  is 
supplied  with  a  large  troussemc,  which  is  packed  in  handsome 
marriage  chests  with  brass  clamps  and  decorations.  There  is 
no  betrothal  ceremony,  and  after  the  arrangement  has  been 
made  the  marriage  may  be  delayed  for  weeks  or  even  months. 


1 16  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

When  it  is  thought  desirable  that  it  should  take  place,  but  not 
until  the  evening  before,  the  bridegroom's  father  sends  a  sort 
of  marriage-contract  to  the  bride's  father,  who  receives  it  with- 
out replying,  and  two  pieces  of  silk  are  sent  to  the  bride,  out 
of  which  her  outer  garments  must  be  made  for  the  marriage 
day. 

A  number  of  men  carrying  gay  silk  lanterns  bear  this  pres- 
ent to  the  bride,  and  on  the  way  are  met  by  a  party  of  men 
from  her  father's  house  bearing  torches,  and  a  fight  ensues, 
which  is  often  more  than  a  make-believe  one,  for  serious  blows 
are  exchanged,  and  on  both  sides  some  are  hurt.  Death  has 
occasionally  been  known  to  follow  on  the  wounds  received. 
If  the  bridegroom's  party  is  worsted  in  the  melee  it  is  a  sign 
that  he  will  have  bad  luck;  if  the  bride's,  that  she  will  have 
misfortunes.  The  night  before  the  marriage  the  parents  of  the 
bride  and  groom  sacrifice  in  their  respective  houses  before  the 
ancestral  tablets,  and  acquaint  the  ancestors  with  the  event 
which  is  to  occur  on  the  morrow. 

The  auspicious  day  having  been  decided  on  by  the  sorcerer, 
about  an  hour  before  noon,  the  bridegroom  on  horseback,  and 
in  Court  dress,  leaves  his  father's  house,  and  on  that  occasion 
only  a  plebeian  can  pass  a  yang-ban  on  the  road  without  dis- 
mounting. Two  men  walk  before  him,  one  carrying  a  white 
umbrella,  and  the  other,  who  is  dressed  in  red  cloth,  a  goose, 
which  is  the  emblem  of  conjugal  fidelity.  He  is  also  attended 
by  several  men  carrying  unlighted  red  silk  lanterns,  by  various 
servants,  by  a  married  brother,  if  he  has  one,  or  by  his  father 
if  he  has  not.  On  reaching  his  destination  he  takes  the  goose 
from  the  hands  of  the  man  in  red,  goes  into  the  house,  and 
lays  it  upon  a  table.  Apropos  of  this  emblem  it  must  be  ob- 
served that  conjugal  fidelity  is  only  required  from  the  wife, 
and  is  a  feminine  virtue  only. 

Two  women  who  are  hired  to  officiate  on  such  occasions 
lead  the  bride  on  to  the  veranda,  or  an  estrade,  and  place  her 
opposite  the  bridegroom,  who  stands  facing  her,  but  at  some 


Korean  Marriage  Customs  117 

little  distance  from  her.  The  wedding  guests  fill  the  court- 
yard. This  is  the  man's  first  view  of  his  future  wife.  She 
may  have  seen  him  through  a  chink  in  the  lattice  or  a  hole  in 
the  wall.  A  queer  object  she  is  to  our  thinking.  Her  face  is 
covered  with  white  powder,  patched  with  spots  of  red,  and  her 
eyelids  are  glued  together  by  an  adhesive  compound.  At  the 
instigation  of  her  attendants  she  bows  twice  to  her  lord,  and 
he  bows  four  times  to  her.  It  is  this  public  reciprocal  ''  salu- 
tation "  which  alone  constitutes  a  valid  marriage.  After  it,  if 
he  repudiates  her,  he  cannot  take  another  wife.  The  perma- 
nence of  the  marriage  tie  is  fully  recognized  in  Korea,  though 
a  man  can  form  as  many  illicit  connections  as  he  chooses.  A 
cup  of  wine  is  then  given  to  the  bridegroom,  who  drinks  a 
little,  after  which  it  is  handed  to  the  bride,  who  merely 
tastes  it. 

Afterwards  within  the  house  a  table  with  a  dainty  dinner  is 
set  before  the  husband,  who  eats  sparingly.  The  bride  retires 
to  the  women's  rooms,  and  the  groom  rejoices  with  his  friends 
in  the  men's  apartments.  There  is  no  simultaneous  banquet. 
Each  guest  on  arriving  is  supplied  with  a  table  of  food.  Such 
a  table,  in  the  case  of  people  of  means,  costs  from  five  to  six 
yen  (from  los.  to  12s.),  and  a  very  cheap  wedding  costs 
seventy-five  j<?;/,  so  that  several  daughters  are  a  misfortune. 

During  the  afternoon  the  husband  returns  to  his  father's 
house,  and  after  a  time  the  bride,  bundled  up  in  a  mass  of 
wedding  clothes,  and  with  her  eyelids  still  sealed,  attended  by 
the  two  women  mentioned  before,  some  hired  girls,  and  men 
with  lanterns,  goes  thither  also,  in  a  rigidly  closed  chair,  in 
the  gay  decorations  of  which  red  predominates.  There  she  is 
received  by  her  father  and  mother-in-law,  to  whom  she  bows 
four  times,  remaining  speechless.  She  is  then  carried  back  to 
the  house  of  her  own  parents,  her  eyelids  are  unsealed,  and 
the  powder  is  washed  from  her  face.  At  five  her  husband  ar- 
rives, but  returns  to  his  father's  house  on  the  following  morn- 
ing, this  process  of  going  and  returning  being  repeated  for 


ii8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

three  days,  after  which  the  bride  is  carried  in  a  plain  chair  to 
her  future  home,  under  the  roof  of  her  parents-in-law,  where 
she  is  allotted  a  room  or  rooms  in  the  seclusion  of  the  women's 
apartments. 

The  name  bestowed  on  her  by  her  parents  soon  after  her 
birth  is  dropped,  and  she  is  known  thereafter  only  as  "the 
wife  of  so  and  so,"  or  "  the  mother  of  so  and  so."  Her  hus- 
band addresses  her  by  the  word  yabii,  signifying  **Look 
here,"  which  is  significant  of  her  relations  to  him. 

Silence  is  regarded  as  a  wife's  first  duty.  During  the  whole 
of  the  marriage  day  the  bride  must  be  as  mute  as  a  statue.  If 
she  says  a  word  or  even  makes  a  sign  she  becomes  an  object 
of  ridicule,  and  her  silence  must  remain  unbroken  even  in  her 
own  room,  though  her  husband  may  attempt  to  break  it  by 
taunts,  jeers,  or  coaxing,  for  the  female  servants  are  all  on  the 
qui  vive  for  such  a  breach  of  etiquette  as  speech,  hanging 
about  the  doors  and  chinks  to  catch  up  and  gossip  even  a 
single  utterance,  which  would  cause  her  to  lose  caste  for  ever 
in  her  circle.  This  custom  of  silence  is  observed  with  the 
greatest  rigidity  in  the  higher  classes.  It  may  be  a  week  or 
several  months  before  the  husband  knows  the  sound  of  his 
wife's  voice,  and  even  after  that  for  a  length  of  time  she  only 
opens  her  mouth  for  necessary  speech.  With  the  father-in-law 
the  law  of  silence  is  even  more  rigid.  The  daughter-in-law 
often  passes  years  without  raising  her  eyes  to  his,  or  addressing 
a  word  to  him. 

The  wife  has  recognized  duties  to  her  husband,  but  he  has 
few,  if  any,  to  her.  It  is  correct  for  a  man  to  treat  his  wife 
with  external  marks  of  respect,  but  he  would  be  an  object  for 
scorn  and  ridicule  if  he  showed  her  affection  or  treated  her  as 
a  companion.  Among  the  upper  classes  a  bridegroom,  after 
passing  three  or  four  days  with  his  wife,  leaves  her  for  a  con- 
siderable time  to  show  his  indifference.  To  act  otherwise 
would  be  "bad  form."  My  impression  is  that  the  community 
of  interests  and  occupations  which  poverty  gives,  and  the  em- 


Korean  Marriage  Customs  119 

bargo  which  it  lays  on  other  connections,  in  Korea  as  in  some 
other  Oriental  countries,  produces  happier  marriages  among 
the  lower  orders  than  among  the  higher.  Korean  women  have 
always  borne  the  yoke.  They  accept  inferiority  as  their 
natural  lot ;  they  do  not  look  for  affection  in  marriage,  and 
probably  the  idea  of  breaking  custom  never  occurs  to  them. 
Usually  they  submit  quietly  to  the  rule  of  the  belle-merey  and 
those  who  are  insubordinate  and  provoke  scenes  of  anger  and 
scandal  are  reduced  to  order  by  a  severe  beating,  when  they 
are  women  of  the  people.  But  in  the  noble  class  custom  for- 
bids a  husband  to  strike  his  wife,  and  as  his  only  remedy  is  a 
divorce,  and  remarriage  is  difficult,  he  usually  resigns  himself 
to  his  fate.  But  if,  in  addition  to  tormenting  him  and  de- 
stroying the  peace  of  his  house,  the  wife  is  unfaithful,  he  can 
take  her  to  a  mandarin,  who,  after  giving  her  a  severe  beating, 
may  bestow  her  on  a  satellite. 

The  seclusion  of  girls  in  the  parental  home  is  carried  on 
after  marriage,  and  in  the  case  of  women  of  the  upper  and 
middle  classes  is  as  complete  as  is  possible.  They  never  go 
out  by  daylight  except  in  completely  closed  chairs.  At  night, 
attended  by  a  woman  and  a  servant  with  a  lantern,  and  with  a 
mantle  over  her  head,  a  wife  may  stir  abroad  and  visit  her  fe- 
male friends,  but  never  without  her  husband's  permission,  who 
requires,  or  may  require,  proof  that  the  visit  has  been  actually 
paid.  Shopping  is  done  by  servants,  or  goods  are  brought  to 
the  veranda,  the  vendors  discreetly  retiring.  Time,  which 
among  the  leisured  classes  hangs  heavily  on  the  hands,  is  spent 
in  spasmodic  cooking,  sewing,  embroidering,  reading  very 
light  literature  in  Efi-mnn,  and  in  the  never-failing  resources 
of  gossip  and  the  interminable  discussion  of  babies.  If  a 
wife  is  very  dull  indeed,  she  can,  with  her  husband's  permis- 
sion, send  for  actors,  or  rather  posturing  reciters,  to  the  com- 
pound, and  look  at  them  through  the  chinks  of  the  bamboo 
blinds.  Through  these  also  many  Korean  ladies  have  seen 
the  splendors  of  the  Ki/r-dong. 


120 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


When  the  Korean  wife  becomes  a  mother  her  position  is 
improved.  Girls,  as  being  unable  to  support  their  parents  in 
old  age  or  to  perform  the  ancestral  rites,  are  not  prized  as  boys 
are,  yet  they  are  neither  superfluous  nor  unwelcome  as  in  some 
Eastern  countries.  The  birth  of  a  girl  is  not  made  an  occa- 
sion for  rejoicing,  but  that  of  the  firstborn  son  is,  and  after  the 
name  has  been  bestowed  on  him,  the  mother  is  known  as  '*  the 
mother  of  so  and  so."  The  first  step  alone  of  the  first  boy 
is  an  occasion  for  family  jubilation.  Korean  babies  have  no 
cradles,  and  are  put  to  sleep  by  being  tapped  lightly  on  the 
stomach. 


* 


^. 


\.    ::r^-^i?. 


A  KOREAN  LADY. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  KOREAN  PONY — KOREAN  ROADS  AND  INNS 

A  GRAY  and  murky  morning  darkening  into  drizzle,  which 
thickened  into  a  day's  pouring  rain,  was  an  inauspicious 
beginning  of  a  long  land  journey,  but  the  crawling  up  the 
north  Han  had  become  monotonous  and  change  and  action 
were  desirable.  Being  an  experienced  muleteer,  I  had  ar- 
ranged the  loads  for  each  pony  so  equitably  as  to  obviate  the 
usual  quarrel  among  the  mapic  or  grooms  at  starting !  The 
men  were  not  regular  inaptly  and  were  going  chiefly  to  see  the 
Diamond  Mountain.  One  was  well  educated  and  gentlemanly, 
and  the  bystanders  jeered  at  them  for  *' loading  like  scholars." 
They  were  a  family  party,  and  there  were  no  disputes. 

My  first  experience  of  the  redoubtable  Korean  pony  was  not 
reassuring.  The  men  had  never  seen  a  foreign  saddle  and  were 
half  an  hour  in  getting  it  **  fixed."  Though  a  pony's  saddle, 
it  was  far  too  large  for  the  creature's  minute  body,  the  girths 
were  half  a  yard  and  the  crupper  nearly  a  foot  too  long.  The 
animal  bit,  squealed,  struck  with  his  fore  and  hind  feet,  and 
performed  the  singular  feat  of  bending  his  back  into  such  an 
inward  curve  that  his  small  body  came  quite  near  the  ground. 
The  men  were  afraid  of  him,  and  it  was  only  in  the  brief  inter- 
vals of  fighting  that  they  dared  to  make  a  dash  at  the  buckles. 
It  was  "  tight-lacing"  that  he  objected  to. 

The  Korean  pony  is  among  the  most  salient  features  of 
Korea.  The  breed  is  peculiar  to  it.  The  animals  used  for 
burdens  are  all  stallions,  from  lo  to  12  hands  high,  well 
formed,  and  singularly  strong,  carrying  from  160  to  200  lbs. 
30  miles  a  day,  week  after  week,  on  sorry  food.     They  are 


122  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

most  desperate  fighters,  squealing  and  trumpeting  on  all  oc- 
casions, attacking  every  pony  they  meet  on  the  road,  never 
becoming  reconciled  to  each  other  even  on  a  long  journey,  and 
in  their  fury  ignoring  their  loads,  which  are  often  smashed  to 
pieces.  Their  savagery  makes  it  necessary  to  have  a  mapu  for 
every  pony,  instead  of,  as  in  Persia,  one  to  five.  At  the  inn 
stables  they  are  not  only  chained  down  to  the  troughs  by 
chains  short  enough  to  prevent  them  from  raising  their  heads, 
but  are  partially  slung  at  night  to  the  heavy  beams  of  the  roof. 
Even  under  these  restricted  circumstances  their  cordial  hatred 
finds  vent  in  hyena-like  yells,  abortive  snaps,  and  attempts  to 
swing  their  hind  legs  round.  They  are  never  allowed  to  lie 
down,  and  very  rarely  to  drink  water,  and  then  only  when 
freely  salted.  Their  nostrils  are  all  slit  in  an  attempt  to  im- 
prove upon  Nature  and  give  them  better  wind.  They  are  fed 
three  times  a  day  on  brown  slush  as  hot  as  they  can  drink  it, 
composed  of  beans,  chopped  millet  stalks,  rice  husks,  and 
bran,  with  the  water  in  which  they  have  been  boiled.  The 
mapu  are  rough  to  them,  but  I  never  saw  them  either  ill-used 
or  petted.  Dearly  as  I  love  horses,  I  was  not  able  on  two 
journeys  to  make  a  friend  of  mine.  On  this  journey  I  rode 
a  handsome  chestnut,  only  lo  hands  high.  He  walked  4 
miles  an  hour,  and  in  a  month  of  travelling,  for  much  of  it 
over  infamous  mountain  roads,  never  stumbled,  but  he  resented 
every  attempt  at  friendliness  both  with  teeth  and  heels.  They 
are  worth  from  50s.  upwards,  and  cost  little  to  keep. 

Their  attendants,  the  mapu,  who  are  by  no  means  always 
their  owners,  or  even  part  owners,  are  very  anxious  about  them 
and  take  very  great  care  of  them,  seeing  to  what  passes  as  their 
comfort  before  their  own.  The  pack  saddle  is  removed  at  once 
on  halting,  the  animals  are  well  rubbed,  and  afterwards  thick 
straw  mats  are  bound  round  their  bodies.  Great  care  is  given 
to  the  cooking  of  their  food.  I  know  not  whether  the  partial 
slinging  of  them  to  the  crossbeams  is  to  relieve  their  legs  or 
to  make  fighting  more  difficult.     On  many  a  night  I  have  been 


The  Korean  Pony — Roads  and  Inns       123 

kept  awake  by  the  screams  of  some  fractious  animal,  kicking 
and  biting  his  neighbors  as  well  as  he  was  able,  till  there  was 
a  general  plunging  and  squealing,  which  lasted  till  blows  and 
execrations  restored  some  degree  of  order. 

After  I  mounted  my  steed,  he  trudged  along  very  steadily, 
unless  any  of  his  fellows  came  near  him,  when,  with  an  evil 
glare  in  his  eyes  and  a  hyena-like  yell,  he  rushed  upon  them 
teeth  and  hoof,  entirely  oblivious  of  bit  and  rider. 

A  torrent  of  rain  fell,  and  the  day's  journey  consisted  in 
splasliing  through  deep  mud,  fording  swollen  streams,  because 
the  bridges  which  crossed  them  were  rotten,  getting  wet  to  the 
skin,  and  getting  partially  dry  by  sitting  on  the  hot  floor  of  a 
hovel  called  an  inn  at  the  noonday  halt,  along  with  a  steam- 
ing crowd  of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in  clean  and  dirty 
white  clothes. 

The  road  by  which  we  travelled  is  the  main  one  from  Seoul 
to  the  eastern  treaty  port  of  Won-san.  It  passes  through  rice 
valleys  with  abundant  irrigation,  and  along  the  sides  of  bare 
hills.  Goods  and  travellers  were  not  to  be  looked  for  in  such 
weather,  but  there  were  a  few  strings  of  coolies  loaded  with 
tobacco,  and  a  few  more  taking  dried  fish  and  dried  seaweed, 
the  latter  a  great  article  of  diet,  from  Won-san  to  the  capital. 
Fangas,  or  water  pestles  for  hulling  rice,  under  rude  thatched 
sheds,  were  numerous.  These  work  automatically,  and  their 
solemn  thud  has  a  tone  of  mystery.  The  machine  consists  of 
a  heavy  log  centred  on  a  pivot,  with  a  box  at  one  end  and  a 
pestle  at  the  other.  Water  from  a  stream  with  some  feet  of 
fall  is  led  into  the  box,  which  when  full  tips  over  its  contents 
and  bears  down  one  end  of  the  log,  when  the  sudden  rise,  act- 
ing on  the  pestle  at  the  other  end,  brings  it  down  with  a  heavy 
thud  on  the  rice  in  the  hollowed  stone,  which  serves  as  a  mortar. 
Where  this  simple  machine  does  not  exist  the  work  is  performed 
by  women. 

Denuded  hillsides  gave  place  to  wooded  valleys  with  torrents 
much  resembling  parts  of  Japan,  the  rain  fell  in  sheets,  and 


124  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

quite  in  the  early  afternoon,  on  reaching  the  hamlet  of  Sar- 
pang  Kori,  the  mapu  declined  to  proceed  farther,  and  there  I 
had  my  first  experience  of  a  Korean  inn.  Many  weeks  on  that 
and  subsequent  journeys  showed  me  that  this  abominable  shel- 
ter, as  I  then  thought  it,  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  average  speci- 
men, and  many  a  hearty  meal  and  good  sound  sleep  may  be 
enjoyed  under  such  apparently  unpropitious  circumstances. 

There  are  regular  and  irregular  inns  in  Korea.  The  irregu- 
lar inn  differs  in  nothing  from  the  ordinary  hovel  of  the  vil- 
lage roadway,  unless  it  can  boast  of  a  yard  with  troughs,  and 
can  provide  entertainment  for  beast  as  well  as  for  man.  The 
regular  inn  of  the  towns  and  large  villages  consists  chiefly  of  a 
filthy  courtyard  full  of  holes  and  heaps,  entered  from  the  road 
by  a  tumble-down  gateway.  A  gaunt  black  pig  or  two  tethered 
by  the  ears,  big  yellow  dogs  routing  in  the  garbage,  and  fowls, 
boys,  bulls,  ponies,  mapUy  hangers-on,  and  travellers'  loads 
make  up  a  busy  scene. 

On  one  or  two  sides  are  ramshackle  sheds,  with  rude,  hol- 
lowed trunks  in  front,  out  of  which  the  ponies  suck  the  hot 
brown  slush  which  sustains  their  strength  and  pugnacity.  On 
the  other  is  the  furnace-shed  with  the  oats  where  the  slush  is 
cooked,  the  same  fire  usually  heating  the  flues  of  the  ka7ig?i.QOX 
of  the  common  room,  while  smaller  fires  in  the  same  shed  cook 
for  the  guests.  Low  lattice  doors  filled  in  with  torn  and  dirty 
paper  give  access  to  a  room  the  mud  floor  of  which  is  concealed 
by  reed  mats,  usually  dilapidated,  sprinkled  with  wooden  blocks 
which  serve  as  pillows.  Farming  gear  and  hat  boxes  often  find 
a  place  on  the  low  heavy  crossbeams.  Into  this  room  are 
crowded  mapu,  travellers,  and  servants,  the  low  residuum  of 
Korean  travel,  for  officials  and  yang-bans  receive  the  hospital- 
ities of  the  nearest  magistracy,  and  the  peasants  open  their 
houses  to  anybody  with  whom  they  have  a  passing  acquaint- 
ance. There  is  in  all  inns  of  pretensions,  however,  another 
room,  known  as  "the  clean  room,"  8  feet  by  6,  which,  if  it 
existed,  I  obtained,  and  if  not  I  had  a  room  in  the  women's 


The  Korean  Pony — Roads  and  Inns      125 

quarters  at  the  back,  remarkable  only  for  its  heat  and  vermin, 
and  the  amount  of  ang-paks,  bundles  of  dirty  clothes,  beans 
rotting  for  soy,  and  other  plenishings  which  it  contained,  and 
which  reduced  its  habitable  portion  to  a  minimum.  At  night 
a  ragged  lantern  in  the  yard  and  a  glim  of  oil  in  the  room  made 
groping  for  one's  effects  possible. 

The  room  was  always  overheated  from  the  ponies'  fire.  From 
80°  to  85°  was  the  usual  temperature,  but  it  was  frequently 
over  92°,  and  I  spent  one  terrible  night  sitting  at  my  door  be- 
cause it  was  105°  within.  In  this  furnace,  which  heats  the 
floor  and  the  spine  comfortably,  the  Korean  wayfarer  revels. 

On  arriving  at  an  inn,  the  master  or  servant  rushes  at  the 
mud,  or  sometimes  matted,  floor  with  a  whisk,  raising  a  great 
dust,  which  he  sweeps  into  a  corner.  The  disgusted  traveller 
soon  perceives  that  the  heap  is  animate  as  well  as  inanimate, 
and  the  groans,  sighs,  scratchings,  and  restlessness  from  the 
public  room  show  the  extent  of  the  insect  pest.  But  I  never 
suffered  from  vermin  in  a  Korean  inn,  nor  is  it  necessary. 
After  the  landlord  had  disturbed  the  dust,  Wong  put  down 
either  two  heavy  sheets  of  oiled  paper  or  a  large  sheet  of  cot- 
ton dressed  with  boiled  linseed  oil  on  the  floor,  and  on  these 
arranged  my  camp-bed,  chair,  and  baggage.  This  arrange- 
ment (and  I  write  from  twenty  months'  experience  in  Korea 
and  China)  is  a  perfect  preventative. 

In  most  inns  rice,  eggs,  vegetables,  and  a  it^  Korean  dain- 
ties, such  as  soup,  vermicelli,  dried  seaweed,  and  a  paste  made 
of  flour,  sugar,  and  oil,  can  be  procured,  but  tea  never,  and  the 
position  of  the  well,  which  frequently  receives  the  soakage  of 
the  courtyard,  precludes  a  careful  traveller  from  drinking  aught 
but  boiled  water.  At  the  proper  seasons  chickens  can  be  pur- 
chased for  about  4d.  each,  and  pheasants  for  less.  Dog  meat 
is  for  sale  frequently  in  the  spring,  and  pork  occasionally. 

The  charges  at  Korean  inns  are  ridiculously  low.  Nothing 
is  charged  for  the  room  with  its  glim  and  hot  floor,  but  as  I 
took  nothing  for  "the  good  of  the  house,"  I  paid  loo  cash 


126  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

per  night,  and  the  same  for  my  room  at  the  midday  halt, 
which  gave  complete  satisfaction.  Travellers  who  eat  three 
meals  a  day  spend,  including  the  trifling  gratuities,  from  200 
to  300  cash  per  diem.  Millet  takes  the  place  of  rice  in  the 
northern  inns. 

The  Korean  inn  is  not  noisy  unless  wine  is  flowing  freely, 
and  even  then  the  noise  subsides  early.  The  fighting  of  the 
ponies,  and  the  shouts  and  execrations  with  which  the  inapu 
pacify  them,  are  the  chief  disturbances  till  daylight  comes  and 
the  wayfarers  move  on.  Travelling  after  dark  is  contrary  to 
Korean  custom. 

From  this  slight  sketch,  the  shadows  of  which  will  bear 
frequent  and  much  intensifying,  it  will  be  seen  that  Korean 
travelling  has  a  very  seamy  side,  that  it  is  entirely  unsuited  to 
the  "globe  trotter,"  and  that  even  the  specialist  may  do  well 
to  count  the  cost  before  embarking  upon  it. 

To  me  the  curse  of  the  Korean  inn  is  the  ill-bred  and  un- 
manageable curiosity  of  the  people,  specially  of  the  women. 
A  European  woman  had  not  been  seen  on  any  part  of  the 
journey,  and  I  suffered  accordingly.  Sar-pang  Kori  may  serve 
as  a  specimen. 

My  quarters  were  opposite  to  the  ponies,  on  the  other  side 
of  the  foul  and  crowded  courtyard.  There  were  two  rooms, 
with  a  space  under  the  roof  as  large  as  either  between  them, 
on  which  the  dripping  baggage  was  deposited,  and  Wong  es- 
tablished himself  with  his  cooking  stove  and  utensils,  though 
there  was  nothing  to  cook  except  two  eggs  obtained  with  diffi- 
culty, and  a  little  rice  left  over  from  the  boat  stores.  My 
room  had  three  paper  doors.  The  unwalled  space  at  once 
filled  up  with  a  crowd  of  men,  women,  and  children.  All  the 
paper  was  torn  off  the  doors,  and  a  crowd  of  dirty  Mongolian 
faces  took  its  place.  I  hung  up  cambric  curtains,  but  long 
sticks  were  produced  and  my  curtains  were  poked  into  the 
middle  of  the  room.  The  crowd  broke  in  the  doors,  and 
filled  the  small  space  not  occupied  by  myself  and  my  gear. 


The  Korean  Pony — Roads  and  Inns       127 

The  women  and  children  sat  on  my  bed  in  heaps,  examined 
my  clothing,  took  out  my  hairpins  and  pulled  down  my  hair, 
took  off  my  slippers,  drew  my  sleeves  up  to  the  elbow  and 
pinched  my  arms  to  see  if  they  were  of  the  same  flesh  and 
blood  as  their  own;  they  investigated  my  few  possessions  mi- 
nutely, trying  on  my  hat  and  gloves,  and  after  being  turned  out 
by  Wong  three  times,  returned  in  fuller  force,  accompanied  by 
unmarried  youths,  the  only  good-looking  ''girls"  ever  seen  in 
Korea,  with  abundant  hair  divided  in  the  middle,  and  hanging 
in  long  plaits  down  their  backs.  The  pushing  and  crushing, 
the  odious  familiarity,  the  babel  of  voices,  and  the  odors  of 
dirty  clothing  in  a  temperature  of  80°,  were  intolerable. 
Wong  cleared  the  room  a  fourth  time,  and  suggested  that  when 
they  forced  their  way  in  again,  they  should  find  me  sitting  on 
the  bed  cleaning  my  revolver,  a  suggestion  I  accepted.  He 
had  hardly  retired  when  they  broke  in  again,  but  there  was  an 
immediate  stampede,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the  evening  I 
was  free  from  annoyance.  Similar  displays  of  aggressive  and 
intolerable  curiosity  occurred  three  times  daily,  and  it  was 
hard  to  be  always  amiable  under  such  circumstances. 

The  Koreans  travel  enormously,  considering  that  they  sel- 
dom make  pilgrimages.  The  pedlars,  who  solely  supply  the 
markets,  are  always  on  the  move,  and  thousands  travel  for 
other  reasons,  such  as  the  gatherings  at  ancestral  tablets,  rest- 
lessness, ennui,  ku-kyong  or  sightseeing,  visits  to  tombs, 
place-hirnting,  literary  examinations,  place-keeping  and  at- 
tempting to  deprive  others  of  place,  litigation,  and  business. 
The  fear  of  tigers  and  daemons  prevents  people  from  journey- 
ing by  night,  which  is  as  well,  as  the  bearers  of  official  pass- 
ports have  the  right  to  demand  an  escort  of  torchbearers  from 
each  village.  If  necessity  compells  nocturnal  travel,  the  way- 
farers associate  themselves  in  bands,  swinging  lanterns,  waving 
torches,  yelling,  and  beating  gongs.  The  dread  of  the  tiger 
is  so  universal  as  to  warrant  the  Chinese  proverbial  saying, 
"The  Korean  hunts  the  tiger  one  half  of  the  year,  and  the 


128  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

tiger  hunts  the  Korean  the  other  half."  As  I  have  before  re- 
marked, the  mandarins  and  yang-bans,  with  their  trains, 
quarter  themselves  on  the  magistracies,  and  eat  the  fat  of  the 
land.  Should  they  be  compelled  to  have  recourse  to  the  dis- 
comforts of  an  inn  and  the  food  of  a  village,  they  appropriate 
the  best  of  everything  without  paying  for  it.  Hence  the  visit 
of  a  foreigner  armed  with  a  kwan-ja  is  such  an  object  of  dread, 
that  on  this  land  journey  I  never  let  it  be  known  that  I  had 
one,  and  on  my  second  journey  discarded  it  altogether,  trust- 
ing in  both  to  the  reputation  for  scrupulous  honesty  which  I  at 
once  established  with  my  men  to  overcome  the  repugnance 
which  the  innkeepers  felt  to  receiving  me. 

The  roads  along  which  the  traveller  rides  or  trudges,  at  a 
pace,  in  either  case,  of  3  miles  an  hour,  are  simply  infamous. 
There  are  few  made  roads,  and  those  which  exist  are  deep  in 
dust  in  summer  and  in  mud  in  winter,  where  they  are  not 
polished  tracks  over  irregular  surfaces  and  ledges  of  rock.  In 
most  cases  they  are  merely  paths  worn  by  the  passage  of 
animals  and  men  into  some  degree  of  legibility.  Many  of  the 
streams  are  unbridged,  and  most  of  the  bridges,  the  roadways 
of  which  are  only  of  twigs  and  sod,  are  carried  away  by  the 
rains  of  early  July,  and  are  not  restored  till  the  middle  of 
October.  In  some  regions  traffic  has  to  betake  itself  to  fords 
or  ferries  when  it  reaches  a  stream,  with  their  necessary  risks 
and  detentions.  Even  on  the  **  Six  Great  Roads"  which 
centre  in  the  capital,  the  bridges  are  apt  to  be  in  such  a  rot- 
ten condition  that  a  mapii  usually  goes  over  in  advance  of  his 
horses  to  ascertain  if  they  will  bear  their  weight.  Among  the 
mountains,  roads  are  frequently  nothing  else  than  boulder- 
strewn  torrent  beds,  and  on  the  best,  that  between  Seoul  and 
Chemulpo,  during  the  winter,  there  are  tracts  on  which  the 
mud  is  from  one  to  three  feet  deep.  These  infamous  bridle 
tracks,  of  which  I  have  had  extensive  experience,  are  one  of 
the  great  hindrances  to  the  development  of  Korea. 

Among  the  worst  of  these  is  that  part  of  the  main  road  from 


The  Korean  Pony— Roads  and  Inns      129 

Seoul  to  Won-san  which  we  followed  from  Sar-pang  Kori  for 
two  days  to  Sang-nang  Dang,  where  we  branched  off  for  the 
region  known  as  Keum-Kang  San,  or  the  Diamond  Mountain. 
The  earlier  part  of  this  route  was  through  wooded  valleys, 
where  lilies  of  the  valley  carpeted  the  ground,  and  over  the 
very  pretty  pass  of  Chyu-pha  (1,300  feet),  on  the  top  of  which 
is  a  large  spirit  shrine,  containing  some  coarsely  painted 
pictures  of  men  who  look  like  Chinese  generals,  the  usual  of- 
ferings of  old  shoes,  rags,  and  infinitesimal  portions  of  rice, 
and  a  tablet  inscribed,  ^'l,  the  spirit  Song-an-chi,  dwell  in 
this  place."  There,  as  at  the  various  trees  hung  with  rags, 
and  the  heaps  of  stones  on  the  tops  of  passes,  the  maj>u  bowed 
and  expectorated,  as  is  customary  at  the  abodes  of  daemons. 

More  than  once  we  passed  not  far  from  houses  outside  of 
which  the  mutang  or  sorceress,  with  much  feasting,  beating  of 
drums,  and  clashing  of  cymbals,  was  exercising  the  daemon 
which  had  caused  the  sickness  of  some  person  within.  Por- 
tions of  the  expensive  feast  prepared  on  these  occasions  are 
offered  to  the  evil  spirit,  and  after  the  exorcism  part  of  the 
food  so  offered  is  given  to  the  patient,  in  the  belief  that  it  is  a 
curative  medicine,  often  seriously  aggravating  the  disease,  as 
when  a  patient  suffering  from  typhoid  fever  or  dysentery  is 
stuffed  with  pork  or  kimshi  /  Recently  a  case  came  under  the 
notice  of  Dr.  Jaisohn  {So  Chai pit)  in  Seoul,  in  which  a  man, 
suffering  from  the  latter  malady,  died  immediately  after  eating 
raw  turnips,  given  him  by  the  mutang  after  being  offered  to 
the  demons  at  the  usual  feast  at  the  ceremony  of  exorcism.^ 

There  is  much  wet  rice  along  the  route,  as  well  as  dry  rice, 
with  a  double  line  of  beans  between  every  two  rows,  and  in 
the  rice  revel  and  croak  large  frogs  of  extreme  beauty,  vivid 
green  with  black  velvet  spots,  the  under  side  of  the  legs  and 
bodies  being  cardinal  red.  These  appeared  to  be  the  prey  of 
the  graceful  white  and  pink  ibis,  the  latter  in  the  intensified 
flush  of  his  spring  coloring. 

A  descent  from  a  second  pass  leads  to  the  Keum-San  Kang, 


130  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

a  largish  river  in  a  rich  agricultural  region,  and  to  the  village 
of  Pan-pyong,  where  they  were  making  in  the  rudest  fashion 
the  great  cast-iron  pots  used  for  boiling  horse  food,  from  iron 
obtained  and  smelted  33  //  farther  north. 

On  two  successive  days  there  were  tremendous  thunder- 
storms, the  second  succeeded,  just  as  we  were  at  the  head  of  a 
wild  glen,  by  a  brief  tornado,  which  nearly  blew  over  the 
ponies,  and  snapped  trees  of  some  size  as  though  they  had 
been  matchwood.  Then  came  a  profound  calm.  The  clouds 
lay  banked  in  pink  illuminated  masses  on  a  sky  of  tender 
green,  cleft  by  gray  mountain  peaks.  Mountain  torrents 
boomed,  crashed,  sparkled,  and  foamed,  the  silent  woods  re- 
joiced the  eye  by  the  vividness  of  their  greenery  and  their 
masses  of  white  and  yellow  blossom,  and  sweet  heavy  odors 
enriched  the  evening  air.  On  that  and  several  other  occasions, 
I  recognized  that  Korea  has  its  own  special  beauties,  which  fix 
themselves  in  the  memory;  but  they  must  be  sought  for  in 
spring  and  autumn,  and  off  the  beaten  track.  Dirty  and 
squalid  as  the  villages  are,  at  a  little  distance  their  deep-eaved 
brown  roofs,  massed  among  orchards,  on  gentle  slopes,  or  on 
the  banks  of  sparkling  streams,  add  color  and  life  to  the 
scenery,  and  men  in  their  queer  white  clothes  and  dress  hats, 
with  their  firm  tread,  and  bundled-up  women,  with  a  shoggling 
walk  and  long  staffs,  brought  round  with  a  semicircular  swing 
at  every  step,  are  adjuncts  which  one  would  not  willingly  dis- 
pense with. 

Before  reaching  the  Paik-yang  Kang,  a  broad,  full  river,  an 
affluent  of  the  northern  Han,  with  singularly  abrupt  turns 
and  perpendicular  cliffs  of  a  formation  resembling  that  of  the 
Palisades  on  the  Hudson  River,  we  crossed  one  of  the  great 
lava  fields  described  by  Consul  Carles.^ 

This,  which  we  crossed  in  a  northeasterly  direction,  is  a 
rough  oval  about  40  miles  by  30,  a  tableland,  in  fact,  sur- 

1 "  Recent  Journeys  in  Korea,"  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society y  May,  1896. 


The  Korean  Pony— Roads  and  Inns       131 

rounded  by  a  deep  chasm  where  the  torrents  which  encircle 
it  meet  the  mountains.  Its  plateaux  are  from  60  to  100  feet 
above  these  streams,  which  are  all  affluents  of  the  Han, 
and  are  supported  on  palisades  of  basalt,  exhibiting  the  pris- 
matic columnar  formation  in  a  very  striking  manner.  In  some 
places  the  lava,  which  is  often  covered  either  with  conglomerate 
or  a  stiffish  clay,  is  very  near  the  surface,  and  large  blocks  of 
it  lie  along  the  streams.  It  is  a  most  fertile  tract,  and  could 
support  a  large  population,  but  not  being  suited  for  rice,  is 
very  little  cultivated,  and  grows  chiefly  oats,  millet,  and  beans, 
which  are  not  affected  by  the  strong  winds. 

There  are  two  Dolmens,  not  far  from  the  Paik-yang  Kang. 
In  one  the  upper  stone  is  from  7  to  10  feet  long,  by  7  feet 
wide,  and  17  inches  deep,  resting  on  three  stones  4  feet  2 
inches  high.  The  other  is  somewhat  smaller.  The  openings 
of  both  face  due  north. 

After  crossing  the  Paik-yang  Kang,  there  162  yards  wide 
and  16  feet  deep,  by  a  ferry  boat  of  remarkably  ingenious  con- 
struction, rendered  necessary  by  the  fact  that  the  long  bridge 
over  the  broad  stream  was  in  ruins,  and  that  the  appropriation 
for  its  reconstruction  had  been  diverted  by  the  local  officials 
to  their  own  enrichment,  we  entered  the  spurs  or  ribs  of  the 
great  mountain  chain  which,  running  north  and  south,  divides 
Korea  into  two  very  unequal  longitudinal  portions  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Tong-ku. 

The  scenery  became  very  varied  and  pretty.  Forests 
clothed  many  of  the  hills  with  a  fair  blossoming  undergrowth 
untouched  by  the  fuel  gatherers'  remorseless  hook;  torrents 
flashed  in  foam  through  dark,  dense  leafage,  or  bubbled  and 
gurgled  out  of  sight;  the  little  patches  of  cultivation  were 
boulder-strewn;  there  were  few  inhabitants,  and  the  tracks 
called  roads  were  little  better  than  the  stony  beds  of  streams. 
As  they  became  less  and  less  obvious,  and  the  valleys  more 
solitary,  our  tergiversations  were  more  frequent  and  prolonged, 
the  mapu  drove  the  ponies  as  fast  as  they  could  walk,  the  fords 


132  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

were  many  and  deep,  and  two  of  the  party  were  unhorsed  in 
them,  still  we  hurried  on  faster  and  faster.  Not  a  word  was 
spoken,  but  I  knew  that  the  men  had  tiger  on  the  brai7i  / 

Blundering  through  the  twilight,  it  was  dark  when  we 
reached  the  lower  village  of  Ma-ri  Kei,  where  we  were  to  halt 
for  the  night,  two  miles  from  the  Pass  of  Tan-pa-Ryong,  which 
was  to  be  crossed  the  next  day.  There  the  villagers  could  not 
or  would  not  take  us  in.  They  said  they  had  neither  rice  nor 
beans,  which  may  have  been  true  so  late  in  the  spring.  How- 
ever, it  is,  or  then  was,  Korean  law  that  if  a  village  could 
not  entertain  travellers  it  must  convoy  them  to  the  next  halt- 
ing-place. 

The  mapu  were  frantic.  They  yelled  and  stormed  and 
banged  at  the  hovels,  and  succeeded  in  turning  out  four  sleepy 
peasants,  who  were  reinforced  by  four  more  a  little  farther  on ; 
but  the  torches  were  too  short,  and  after  sputtering  and  flaring, 
went  out  one  by  one,  and  the  fresh  ones  lighted  slowly.  The 
mapu  lost  their  reason.  They  thrashed  the  torchbearers  with 
their  heavy  sticks ;  I  lashed  my  mapu  with  my  light  whip  for 
doing  it ;  they  yelled,  they  danced.  Then  things  improved. 
Gloriously  glared  the  pine  knots  on  the  leaping  crystal  torrents 
that  we  forded,  reddening  the  white  clothes  of  the  men  and 
the  stony  track  and  the  warm-tinted  stems  of  the  pines,  and  so 
with  shouts  and  yells  and  waving  torches  we  passed  up  the 
wooded  glen  in  the  frosty  night  air,  under  a  firmament  of 
stars,  to  the  mountain  hamlet  of  upper  Ma-ri  Kei,  consisting 
of  five  hovels,  only  three  of  which  were  inhabited. 

It  is  a  very  forlorn  place  and  very  poor,  and  it  was  an  hour 
before  my  party  of  eight  human  beings  and  four  ponies  were 
established  in  its  miserable  shelter,  though  even  that  was  wel- 
come after  being  eleven  hours  in  the  saddle. 


CHAPTER  XI 

DIAMOND    MOUNTAIN    MONASTERIES 

IT  was  a  glorious  day  for  the  Pass  of  Tan-pa-Ryong  (1,320 
feet  above  Ma-ri  Kei),  the  western  barrier  of  the  Keum- 
Kang  San  region.  Mr.  Campbell,  of  H.B.M.'s  Consular 
Service,  one  of  the  few  Europeans  who  has  crossed  it,  in  his 
charming  narrative  mentions  that  it  is  impassable  for  laden  ani- 
mals, and  engaged  porters  for  the  ascent,  but  though  the  track 
is  nothing  better  than  a  torrent  bed  abounding  in  great  boul- 
ders, angular  and  shelving  rocks,  and  slippery  corrugations  of 
entangled  tree  roots,  I  rode  over  the  worst  part,  and  my  ponies 
made  nothing  of  carrying  the  baggage  up  the  rock  ladders. 
The  mountain-side  is  covered  with  luxuriant  and  odorous  vege- 
tation, specially  oak,  chestnut,  hawthorn,  varieties  of  maple, 
pale  pink  azalea,  and  yellow  clematis,  interspersed  with  a  few 
distorted  pines,  primulas  and  lilies  of  the  valley  covering  the 
mossy  ground. 

From  the  spirit  shrine  on  the  summit  a  lovely  panorama  un- 
folds itself,  billows  of  hilly  woodland,  gleams  of  water,  wavy 
outlines  of  hills,  backed  by  a  jagged  mountain  wall,  attaining 
an  altitude  of  over  6,000  feet  in  the  loftiest  pinnacle  of  the 
Keum-Kang  San.  A  fair  land  of  promise,  truly  !  But  this 
pass  is  a  rubicon  to  him  who  seeks  tlie  Diamond  Mountain 
with  the  intention  of  immuring  himself  for  life  in  one  of  its 
many  monasteries.  For  its  name.  Tan-pa,  ''crop-hair,"  was 
bestowed  on  it  early  in  the  history  of  Korean  Buddhism  for  a 
reason  which  remains.  There  those  who  have  chosen  the 
cloister  emphasize  their  abandonment  of  the  world  by  cutting 
off  the  ^Uopknot"  of  married  dignity,  or  the  heavy  braid  of 
bachelorhood. 

133 


134  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  eastern  descent  of  the  Tan-pa-Ryong  is  by  a  series  of 
zigzags,  through  woods  and  a  profusion  of  varied  and  magnifi- 
cent ferns.  A  long  day  followed  of  ascents  and  descents, 
deep  fords  of  turbulent  streams,  valley  villages  with  terrace 
cultivation  of  buckwheat,  and  glimpses  of  gray  rock  needles 
through  pine  and  persimmon  groves,  and  in  the  late  afternoon, 
after  struggling  through  a  rough  ford  in  which  the  water  was 
halfway  up  the  sides  of  the  ponies,  we  entered  a  gorge  and 
struck  a  smooth,  broad,  well-made  road,  the  work  of  the 
monks,  which  traverses  a  fine  forest  of  pines  and  firs  above  a 
booming  torrent. 

Towards  evening  *' The  hills  swung  open  to  the  light "; 
through  the  parting  branches  there  were  glimpses  of  granite 
walls  and  peaks  reddening  into  glory;  red  stems,  glowing  in 
the  slant  sunbeams,  lighted  up  the  blue  gloom  of  the  coniferse ; 
there  were  glints  of  foam  from  the  loud-tongued  torrent  below; 
the  dew  fell  heavily,  laden  with  aromatic  odors  of  pines,  and 
as  the  valley  narrowed  again  and  the  blue  shadows  fell  the 
picture  was  as  fair  as  one  could  hope  to  see.  The  monks, 
though  road-makers,  are  not  bridge-builders,  and  there  were 
difficult  fords  to  cross,  through  which  the  ponies  were  left  to 
struggle  by  themselves,  the  viapu  crossing  on  single  logs.  In 
the  deep  water  I  discovered  that  its  temperature  was  almost 
icy.  The  worst  ford  is  at  the  point  where  the  first  view  of 
Chang-an  Sa,  the  Temple  of  Eternal  Rest,  the  oldest  of  the 
Keum-Kang  San  monasteries,  is  obtained,  a  great  pile  of  tem- 
ple buildings  with  deep  curved  roofs,  in  a  glorious  situation, 
crowded  upon  a  small  grassy  plateau  in  one  of  the  narrowest 
parts  of  the  gorge,  where  the  mountains  fall  back  a  little  and 
afford  Buddhism  a  peaceful  shelter,  secluded  from  the  outer 
world  by  snow  for  four  months  of  the  year. 

Crossing  the  torrent  and  passing  under  a  lofty  Hong-Sal- 
MuHy  or  "red  arrow  gate,"  significant  in  Korea  of  the  patron- 
age of  royalty,  we  were  at  once  among  the  Chang-an  Sa  build- 
ings,   which  consist  of  temples  large  and  small,  a  stage  for 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  135 

religious  dramas,  bell  and  tablet  houses,  stables  for  the  ponies 
of  wayfarers,  cells,  dormitories,  and  a  refectory  for  the  abbot 
and  monks,  quarters  for  servants  and  neophytes,  huge  kitchens, 
a  large  guest  hall,  and  a  nunnery.  Besides  these  there  are 
quarters  devoted  to  the  lame,  halt,  blind,  infirm,  and  solitary; 
to  widows,  orphans,  and  the  destitute. 

These  guests,  numbering  100,  seemed  well  treated.  Be- 
tween monks,  servants,  and  boys  preparing  for  the  priesthood 
there  may  be  100  more,  and  20  nuns  of  all  ages,  from  girlhood 
up  to  eighty-seven  years.  This  large  number  of  persons  is 
supported  by  the  rent  and  produce  of  Church  lands  outside 
the  mountains,  the  contributions  of  pilgrims  and  guests,  the 
moneys  collected  by  the  monks,  who  all  go  on  mendicant 
expeditions,  even  up  to  the  gates  of  Seoul,  which  at  that  time 
it  was  death  for  any  priest  to  enter,  and  benefactions  from  the 
late  Queen,  which  had  become  increasingly  liberal. 

The  first  impression  of  the  plateau  was  that  it  was  a  wood- 
yard  on  a  large  scale.  Great  logs  and  piles  of  planks  were 
heaped  under  the  stately  pines  and  under  a  superb  Salisburia 
adiantifoliay  17  feet  in  girth;  40  carpenters  were  sawing, 
planing,  and  hammering,  and  40  or  50  laborers  were  hauling 
in  logs  to  the  music  of  a  wild  chant,  for  mendicant  effort  had 
been  resorted  to  energetically,  with  the  result  that  the  great 
temple  was  undergoing  repairs,  almost  amounting  to  a  recon- 
struction. 

Of  the  forty-five  monasteries  and  monastic  shrines  which 
exist  in  the  Diamond  Mountain,  enhancing  its  picturesqueness 
and  supplying  it  with  a  religious  and  human  interest,  Chang-an 
Sa  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  specimen  of  the  three  largest,  as  it 
is  undoubtedly  the  oldest,  assuming  the  correctness  of  a  his- 
torical record  quoted  by  Mr.  Campbell,  which  gives  the  date 
of  its  restoration  by  two  monks,  Yul-sa  and  Chin-h'yo,  as  a.d. 
515,  in  the  reign  of  Pop-heung,  a  king  of  Silla,  then  the  most 
important  of  the  kingdoms,  afterwards  amalgamated  as  Korea. 

The  large  temple  is  a  fine  old  building  of  the  type  adapted 


136  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

from  Chinese  Buddhist  architecture,  oblong,  with  a  heavy  tiled 
roof  48  feet  in  height,  with  wings,  deep  eaves  protecting 
masses  of  richly-colored  wood-carving.  The  lofty  reticulated 
roof  is  internally  supported  on  an  arrangement  of  heavy 
beams,  elaborately  carved  and  painted  in  rich  colors.  The 
panels  of  the  doors,  which  serve  as  windows,  and  let  in  a 
"dim  religious  light,"  are  bold  fretwork,  decorated  in  colors 
enriched  with  gold. 

The  roofs  of  the  actual  shrines  are  supported  on  wooden 
pillars  3  feet  in  diameter,  formed  of  single  trees,  and  the 
panelled  ceilings  are  embellished  with  intricate  designs  in  col- 
ors and  gold.  In  one  Sakyamuni's  image,  with  a  distinctly 
Hindu  cast  of  countenance,  and  a  look  of  ineffable  abstrac- 
tion, sits  under  a  highly  decorative  reticulated  wooden  canopy, 
with  an  altar  before  it,  on  which  are  brass  incense  burners, 
books  of  prayer,  and  lists  of  those  deceased  persons  for  whose 
souls  masses  have  been  duly  paid  for.  Much  rich  brocade, 
soiled  and  dusty,  and  many  gonfalons,  hang  round  this  shrine. 

The  "Hall  of  the  Four  Sages"  contains  three  Buddhas  in 
different  attitudes  of  abstraction  or  meditation,  a  picture, 
wonderfully  worked  in  gold  and  silks  in  Chinese  embroidery, 
of  Buddha  and  his  disciples,  for  which  the  monks  claim  an 
antiquity  of  fourteen  centuries,  and  sixteen  Lohans,  with  their 
attendants.  Along  the  side  walls  are  a  host  of  daemons  and 
animals.  Another  striking  shrine  is  that  dedicated  to  the 
Lord  of  the  Buddhistic  Hell  and  his  ten  princes.  The  monks 
call  it  the  "  Temple  of  the  Ten  Judges."  This  is  a  shrine  of 
great  resort,  and  is  much  blackened  by  the  smoke  of  incense 
and  candles,  but  the  infernal  torments  depicted  in  the  pictures 
at  the  back  of  each  judge  are  only  too  conspicuous.  They 
are  horrible  beyond  conception,  and  show  a  diabolical  genius 
in  hellish  art,  akin  to  that  which  inspired  the  creation  of  the 
groups  in  the  Inferno  of  tlie  temple  of  Kwan-yin  at  Ting-hai 
on  Chusan,  familiar  to  some  of  my  readers. 

Besides  the  ecclesiastical  buildings  and  the  common  guest- 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  137 

room,  there  are  Government  buildings  marked  with  the  Korean 
national  emblem,  for  the  use  of  officials  who  go  up  to  Chang- 
an  Sa  for  pleasure. 

It  was  difficult  for  me  to  find  accommodation,  but  eventually 
a  very  pleasing  young  priest  of  high  rank  gave  up  his  cell  to 
me.  Unfortunately,  it  was  next  the  guests'  kitchen,  and  the 
flues  from  the  fires  passing  under  it,  I  was  baked  in  a  tempera- 
ture of  91°,  although,  in  spite  of  warnings  about  tigers,  the 
dangers  from  which  are  by  no  means  imaginary,  I  kept  both 
door  and  window  open  all  night.  The  cell  had  for  its  furni- 
ture a  shrine  of  Gautama  and  an  image  of  Kwan-yin  on  a 
shelf,  and  a  few  books,  which  I  learned  were  Buddhist  classics, 
not  volumes,  as  in  a  cell  which  I  occupied  later,  full  of  pic- 
tures by  no  means  inculcating  holiness.  In  the  next  room, 
equally  hot,  and  without  a  chink  open  for  ventilation,  thirty 
guests  moaned  and  tossed  all  night,  a  single  candle  dimly 
lighting  a  picture  of  Buddha  and  the  dusty  and  hideous  orna- 
ments on  the  altar  below. 

A  9  P.M.,  midnight,  and  again  at  4  a.m.,  which  is  the  hour 
at  which  the  monks  rise,  bells  were  rung,  cymbals  and  gongs 
were  beaten,  and  the  praises  of  Buddha  were  chanted  in  an 
unknown  tongue.  A  feature  at  once  cheerful  and  cheerless  is 
the  presence  at  Chang-an  Sa  of  a  number  of  bright,  active, 
orphan  boys  from  ten  to  thirteen  years  old,  who  are  at  present 
servitors,  but  who  will  one  day  become  priests. 

It  is  an  exercise  of  forbearance  to  abstain  from  writing  much 
about  the  beauties  of  Chang-an  Sa  as  seen  in  two  days  of  per- 
fect heavenliness.  It  is  a  calm  retreat,  that  small,  green, 
semicircular  plateau  which  the  receding  hills  have  left,  walling 
in  the  back  and  sides  with  rocky  precipices  half  clothed  with 
forest,  while  the  bridgeless  torrent  in  front,  raging  and  thun- 
dering among  huge  boulders  of  pink  granite,  secludes  it  from 
all  but  the  adventurous.  Alike  in  the  rose  of  sunrise,  in  the 
red  and  gold  of  sunset,  or  gleaming  steely  blue  in  the  prosaic 
glare  of  midday,  the  great  rock  peak  on  the  left  bank,  one  of 


138  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  highest  in  the  range,  compels  ceaseless  admiration.  The 
appearance  of  its  huge  vertical  topmost  ribs  has  been  well 
compared  to  that  of  the  "  pipes  of  an  organ,"  this  organ-pipe 
formation  being  common  in  the  range  ;  seams  and  ledges  half- 
way down  give  roothold  to  a  few  fantastic  conifers  and  azaleas, 
and  lower  still  all  suggestion  of  form  is  lost  among  dense 
masses  of  magnificent  forest. 

As  I  proposed  to  take  a  somewhat  different  route  from  Yu- 
chom  Sa  (the  first  temple  on  the  eastern  slope)  from  that  trav- 
ersed by  my  predecessors,  the  Hon.  G.  W.  Curzon  and  Mr. 
Campbell,  I  left  the  ponies  and  baggage  at  Chang-an  Sa,  the 
mapu,  who  were  bent  on  ku-kyd?ig,  accompanying  me  for  part 
of  the  distance,  and  took  a  five  days'  journey  in  the  glorious 
Keum-Kang  San  in  unrivalled  weather,  in  air  which  was  elixir, 
crossing  the  range  to  Yu-chom  Sa  by  the  An-mun-chai  (Goose- 
Gate  Terrace),  4,215  feet  in  altitude,  and  recrossing  it  by  the 
Ki-cho,  3,570  feet. 

Taking  two  coolies  to  carry  essentials,  and  a  na-my'd  or 
mountain  chair  with  two  bearers,  for  the  whole  journey,  all 
supplied  by  the  monks,  I  walked  the  first  stage  to  the  monas- 
teries of  P'yo-un  Sa  and  Chyang-yang  Sa,  the  latter  at  an  ele- 
vation of  about  2,760  feet.  From  it  the  view,  which  passes 
for  the  grandest  in  Korea,  is  obtained  of  the  ''Twelve  Thou- 
sand Peaks."  There  is  assuredly  no  single  view  that  I  have 
seen  in  Japan  or  even  in  Western  China  which  equals  it  for 
beauty  and  grandeur.  Across  the  grand  gorge  through  which 
the  Chang-an  Sa  torrent  thunders,  and  above  primaeval  tiger- 
haunted  forests  with  their  infinity  of  green,  rises  the  central 
ridge  of  the  Keum-Kang  San,  jagged  all  along  its  summit,  each 
yellow  granite  pinnacle  being  counted  as  a  peak. 

On  that  enchanting  May  evening,  when  odors  of  paradise, 
the  fragrant  breath  of  a  million  flowering  shrubs  and  trailers, 
of  bursting  buds,  and  unfolding  ferns,  rose  into  the  cool  dewy 
air,  and  the  silence  could  be  felt,  I  was  not  inclined  to  enter 
a  protest  against  Korean  exaggeration  on  the  ground  that  the 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  139 

number  of  peaks  is  probably  nearer  1,200  than  12,000.  Their 
yellow  granite  pinnacles,  weathered  into  silver  gray,  rose  up 
cold,  stern,  and  steely  blue  from  the  glorious  forests  which 
drape  their  lower  heights — winter  above  and  summer  below — 
then  purpled  into  red  as  the  sun  sank,  and  gleamed  above  the 
twilight,  till  each  glowing  summit  died  out  as  lamps  which  are 
extinguished  one  by  one,  and  the  whole  took  on  the  ashy  hue 
of  death. 

The  situation  of  P'yo-un  Sa  is  romantic,  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  torrent,  and  is  approached  by  a  bridge,  and  by  passing 
under  several  roofed  gateways.  The  monastery  had  been 
newly  rebuilt,  and  is  one  mass  of  fretwork,  carving,  gilding, 
and  color,  the  whole  decoration  being  the  work  of  the  monks. 

The  front  of  the  ''Temple  of  the  Believing  Mind"  is  a 
magnificent  piece  of  bold  wood-carving,  the  motif  being  the 
peony.  Every  part  of  the  building  which  is  not  stone  or  tile 
is  carved,  and  decorated  in  blue,  red,  white,  green,  and  gold. 
It  may  be  barbaric,  but  it  is  barbaric  splendor.  There  too  is 
a  "Temple  of  Judgment,"  with  hideous  representations  of  tlie 
Buddhist  hells,  one  scene  being  the  opening  of  the  books  in 
which  the  deeds  of  men's  mortal  lives  are  written. 

The  fifty  monks  of  P'yo-un  Sa  were  very  friendly,  and  not 
impecunious.  One  gave  up  to  me  his  oven-like  cell,  but  repaid 
himself  for  the  sacrifice  by  indulging  in  ceaseless  staring.  The 
wind  bells  of  the  establishment  and  the  big  bell  have  a  melody 
in  their  tones  such  as  I  have  rarely  heard,  and  when  at  4  a.  m. 
bells  of  all  sizes  and  tones  announced  that  ''prayer  is  better 
than  sleep,"  there  was  nothing  about  the  sounds  to  jar  on  the 
pure  freshness  of  morning.  The  monks  are  well  dressed  and 
jolly,  and  have  a  well-to-do  air  which  clashes  with  any  pre- 
tensions to  asceticism.  The  rule  of  these  monasteries  is  a 
strict  vegetarianism  which  allows  neither  milk  nor  eggs,  and 
in  the  whole  region  there  are  neither  fowls  nor  domestic  ani- 
mals. Not  to  wound  the  prejudices  of  my  hosts,  I  lived  on 
tea,  rice,  honey  water,  edible  pine  nuts,  and  a  most  satisfying 


14<^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

combination  of  pine  nuts  and  honey.  After  a  light  breakfast 
on  these  delicacies,  the  sub-abbot,  took  me  to  see  his  grand- 
mother, a  very  bright  pleasing  woman  of  eighty,  who  came 
from  Seoul  thirteen  years  ago  and  built  a  house  within  the 
monastery  grounds,  in  order  to  die  in  its  quiet  blessedness. 
There  I  had  to  eat  a  second  ethereal  meal,  and  the  hospitable 
hostess  forced  on  me  a  pot  of  exquisite  honey  and  a  bag  of  pine 
nuts.  These,  the  product  of  the  Piims  pinea,  which  grows 
profusely  throughout  the  range,  furnish  an  important  and  nu- 
tritious article  of  monkish  diet,  and  are  exported  in  quantities 
as  a  luxury.  They  are  rich  and  very  oily,  and  turn  rancid 
soon  after  being  shelled.  The  honey  is  also  locally  produced. 
The  beehives,  which  usually  stand  two  togetlier  in  cavities  in 
the  rocks,  are  hollow  logs  with  clay  covers  mounted  on  blocks 
of  wood  or  stone.  Leaving  this  friendly  hostess  and  the  seven 
nuns  of  the  nunnery  behind,  the  sub-abbot  showed  me  the 
direction  in  which  to  climb,  for  road  there  is  none,  and  at 
parting  presented  me  with  a  fan. 

A  visit  to  the  Keum-Kang  San  elevates  a  Korean  into  the 
distinguished  position  of  a  traveller,  and  many  a  young  resi- 
dent of  Seoul  gains  this  fashionable  reputation.  It  is  not  as 
containing  shrines  of  pilgrimage,  for  most  Koreans  despise 
Buddhism  and  its  shaven  mendicant  priests,  that  these  moun- 
tains are  famous  in  Korea,  but  for  their  picturesque  beauties, 
much  celebrated  in  Korean  poetry.  The  broad  backbone  of 
the  peninsula  which  has  trended  near  to  the  east  coast  from 
Puk-chong  southwards  has  degenerated  into  tameness,  when 
suddenly  Keum-Kang  San,  or  the  Diamond  Mountain,  with  its 
elongated  mass  of  serrated,  jagged,  and  inaccessible  peaks, 
and  magnificent  primaeval  forest,  occupying  an  area  of  about 
32  miles  in  length  by  22  in  breadth,  starts  off  from  it  near  the 
39th  parallel  of  latitude  in  the  province  of  Kang-won. 
Buddhism,  which,  as  in  Japan,  possesses  itself  of  the  fairest 
spots  in  Nature,  fixed  itself  in  this  romantic  seclusion  as  early 
as  the  sixth  century  a.  d.,  and  the  venerable  relics  of  the  time 


THE   DIAMOND   MOUNTAINS. 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  141 

when  for  1,000  years  it  was  the  official  as  well  as  the  popular 
cult  of  the  country  are  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  recesses  of 
this  mountain  region,  where  the  same  faith,  though  now  dis- 
credited, disestablished,  and  despised,  still  attracts  a  certain 
number  of  votaries,  and  a  far  larger  number  of  visitors  and 
so-called  pilgrims,  who  resort  to  the  shrines  to  indulge  in  ku- 
ky'dng,  a  Korean  term  which  covers  pleasure-seeking,  sight- 
seeing, the  indulgence  of  curiosity,  and  much  else. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn,  there  are  only  two 
routes  by  which  the  Keum-Kang  San  can  be  penetrated,  the 
one  which,  after  following  the  bed  of  a  singularly  rough  tor- 
rent, crosses  the  watershed  at  An-mun-chai,  and  on  or  near 
which  the  principal  monasteries  and  shrines  are  situated,  and 
the  Ki-cho,  a  lower  and  less  interesting  pass.  Both  routes 
start  from  Chang-an  Sa.  The  forty-t\vo  shrines  are  the  head- 
quarters of  about  400  monks  and  about  50  nuns,  who  add  to 
their  religious  exercises  the  weaving  of  cotton  and  hempen  cloth. 
The  lay  servitors  possibly  number  1,000.  The  four  great  mon- 
asteries, two  on  the  eastern  and  two  on  the  western  slope, 
absorb  more  than  300  of  the  whole  number.  All  except  the 
high  monastic  officials  beg  through  the  country,  alms-bowl  in 
hand,  the  only  distinctive  features  of  their  dress  being  a  very 
peculiar  hat  and  the  rosary.  They  chant  the  litanies  of 
Buddha  from  house  to  house,  and  there  are  few  who  deny  them 
food  and  lodging  and  a  few  cash  or  a  little  rice. 

The  monasteries  are  presided  over  by  what  we  should  call 
"abbots,"  superiors  of  the  first  or  second  class  according  to 
the  importance  of  the  establishment.  These  Chong-sop  and 
Son-tong  are  nominally  elected  annually,  but  actually  continue 
in  office  for  years,  unless  their  conduct  gives  rise  to  dissatis- 
faction. Beyond  the  confirmation  of  the  election  of  the 
Choiig-sop  of  those  monasteries  which  possess  a  "  Red  Arrow 
Gate  "by  the  Board  of  Rites  at  Seoul,  the  disestablished 
Church  appears  to  be  quite  free  from  State  interference.  In 
the  case  of  restoring  and  rebuilding  shrines,  large  sums  are 


142  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

collected  in  Seoul  and  the  southern  provinces,  though  faith 
in  Buddhism  as  a  creed  rarely  exists. 

On  making  inquiries  through  Mr.  Miller  as  to  the  way  in 
which  the  number  of  monks  is  kept  up,  I  learned  that  the  ma- 
jority are  either  orphans  or  children  whose  parents  have  given 
them  to  the  monasteries  at  a  very  early  age  owing  to  poverty. 
These  are  more  or  less  educated  and  trained  by  the  monks. 
It  must  be  supposed  that  among  the  number  there  are  a  few 
who  escape  from  the  weariness  and  friction  of  secular  life  into 
a  region  in  which  seclusion  and  devotion  are  possible.  Of 
this  type  was  the  pale  and  interesting  young  priest  who  gave  up 
his  room  to  me  at  Chang-an  Sa,  and  two  who  accompanied  us 
to  Yu-chom  Sa,  one  of  whom  chanted  Na  Mu  Ami  Tabu 
nearly  the  whole  day  as  he  journeyed,  telling  a  bead  on  his 
rosary  for  each  ten  repetitions.  Mr.  Miller  asked  him  what 
the  words  meant.  ''Just  letters,"  he  replied  ;  *'  they  have  no 
meaning,  but  if  you  say  them  many  times  you  will  get  to 
heaven  better."  Then  he  gave  Mr.  Miller  the  rosary,  and 
taught  him  the  mystic  syllables,  saying,  ''Now,  you  keep  the 
beads,  say  the  words,  and  you  will  go  to  heaven."  Among 
the  younger  priests  several  seemed  in  earnest.  Others  make 
the  monasteries  (as  is  largely  the  case  with  the  celebrated 
shrines  of  Kwan-yin  on  the  Chinese  island  of  Pu-tu)  a  refuge 
from  justice  or  creditors,  some  remain  desiring  peaceful  indo- 
lence, and  not  a  few  are  vowed  and  tonsured  who  came  simply 
to  view  the  scenery  of  the  Keum-Kang  San  and  were  too  much 
enchanted  to  leave  it. 

As  to  the  moribund  Buddhism  which  has  found  its  most  se- 
cluded retreat  in  these  mountains,  it  is  overlaid  with  dgemonol- 
atry,  and  like  that  of  China  is  smothered  under  a  host  of  semi- 
deified  heroes.  Of  the  lofty  aims  and  aspirations  after  right- 
eousness which  distinguish  the  great  reforming  sects  of  Japan, 
such  as  the  Monto,  it  knows  nothing. 

The  monks  are  grossly  ignorant  and  superstitious.  They 
know  nearly  nothing  of  the  history  and  tenets  of  their  own 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  143 

creed,  or  of  the  purport  of  their  liturgies,  which  to  most  of 
them  are  just  '*  letters,"  the  ceaseless  repetition  of  which  con- 
stitutes ^' merit."  Though  some  of  them  know  Chinese,  and 
this  knowledge  means  "education"  in  Korea,  worship  consists 
in  the  mumbling  or  loud  intoning  of  Sanscrit  or  Tibetan  phrases, 
of  the  meaning  of  which  they  have  no  conception.  My  impres- 
sion of  most  of  the  monks  was  that  their  religious  performances 
are  absolutely  without  meaning  to  them,  and  that  belief,  except 
among  a  few,  does  not  exist.  The  Koreans  universally  attrib- 
ute to  them  gross  profligacy,  of  the  existence  of  which  at  one 
of  the  large  monasteries  it  was  impossible  not  to  become  aware, 
but  between  their  romantic  and  venerable  surroundings,  the 
order  and  quietness  of  their  lives,  their  benevolence  to  the  old 
and  destitute,  who  find  a  peaceful  asylum  with  them,  and  in 
the  main  their  courtesy  and  hospitality,  I  am  compelled  to  ad' 
mit  that  they  exercise  a  certain  fascination,  and  that  I  prefer 
to  remember  their  virtues  rather  than  their  faults.  My  sympa- 
thies go  out  to  them  for  their  appreciation  of  the  beautiful,  and 
for  the  way  in  which  religious  art  has  assisted  Nature  by  the 
exceeding  picturesqueness  of  the  positions  and  decoration  of 
their  shrines. 

The  route  from  Chang-an  Sa  to  Yu-chom  Sa,  about  1 1  miles, 
is  mainly  the  rough  beds  of  two  great  mountain  torrents.  Along 
this,  in  romantic  positions,  are  three  large  monasteries  P'yo-un 
Sa,  Ma-ha-ly-an  Sa,  and  Yu-chom  Sa,  besides  a  number  of 
smaller  shrines,  with  from  two  to  five  attendants  each,  one 
especially,  Po-tok-am  sa,  dedicated  to  Kwan-yin,  picturesque 
beyond  description — a  fantastic  temple  built  out  from  the  face 
of  a  cliff,  at  a  height  of  100  feet,  and  supported  below  the 
centre  by  a  pillar,  round  which  a  blossoming  white  clematis, 
and  an  Ampelopsis  Veitchiana,  in  the  rose  flush  of  its  spring 
leafage,  had  entwined  their  lavish  growth. 

No  quadruped  can  travel  this  route  farther  than  Chang-an 
Sa.  Coolies,  very  lightly  laden,  and  chair-bearers  carrying  a 
na-myo,  two  long  poles  with  a  slight  seat  in  the  middle,  a  noose 


144  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

of  rope  for  the  feet,  and  light  uprights  bound  together  with  a 
wistaria  rope  to  support  the  back,  can  be  used,  but  the  occu- 
pant of  the  chair  has  to  walk  much  of  the  way. 

The  torrent  bed  contracts  above  Chang-an  Sa,  opens  out 
here  and  there,  and  above  P'yo-un  Sa  narrows  into  a  gash,  only 
opening  out  again  at  the  foot  of  the  An-raun-chai.  Surely  the 
beauty  of  that  ii  miles  is  not  much  exceeded  anywhere  on 
earth.  Colossal  cliffs,  upbearing  mountains,  forests,  and  gray 
gleaming  peaks,  rifted  to  give  roothold  to  pines  and  maples, 
ofttimes  contracting  till  the  blue  heaven  above  is  narrowed  to 
a  strip,  boulders  of  pink  granite  40  and  50  feet  high,  pines  on 
their  crests  and  ferns  and  lilies  in  their  crevices,  round  which 
the  clear  waters  swirl,  before  sliding  down  over  smooth  sur- 
faces of  pink  granite  to  rest  awhile  in  deep  pink  pools  where 
they  take  a  more  brilliant  than  an  emerald  green  with  the  flash- 
ing lustre  of  a  diamond — rocks  and  ledges  over  which  the  crys- 
tal stream  dashes  in  drifts  of  foam,  shelving  rock  surfaces  on 
which  the  decorative  Chinese  characters,  the  laborious  work 
of  pilgrims,  afford  the  only  foothold,  slides,  steeper  still,  made 
passable  for  determined  climbers  by  holes,  drilled  by  the  monks, 
and  fitted  with  pegs  and  rails,  rocks  with  bas-reliefs,  or  small 
shrines  of  Buddha  draped  with  flowering  trailers,  a  cliff  with 
a  bas-relief  of  Buddha,  45  feet  high  on  a  pedestal  30  feet  broad, 
rocks  carved  into  lanterns  and  altars,  whose  harsh  outlines  are 
softened  by  mosses  and  lichens,  and  above,  huge  timber  and 
fantastic  peaks  rising  into 

The  summer  heaven's  delicious  blue. 
A  description  can  be  only  a  catalogue.     The  actuality  was  in- 
toxicating, a  canyon  on  the  grandest  scale,  with  every  element 
of  beauty  present. 

This  route  cannot  be  traversed  in  European  shoes.  In  Korean 
string  foot-gear,  however,  I  never  slipped  once.  There  wiis 
much  jumping  from  boulder  to  boulder,  much  winding  round 
rocky  projections,  clinging  to  their  irregularities  with  scarcely 
foothold,  and  one's  back  to  the  torrent  far  below,  and  much 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  145 

leaping  over  deep  crevices  and  '*  walking  tight-rope  fashion" 
over  rails.  Wherever  the  traveller  has  to  leave  the  difficulties 
of  the  torrent  bed  he  encounters  those  of  slippery  sloping  rocks, 
which  he  has  to  traverse  by  hanging  on  to  tree  trunks. 

Our  two  priestly  companions  were  most  polite  to  me,  giving 
me  a  hand  at  the  dangerous  places,  and  beguiling  the  way  by 
legends,  chiefly  Buddhistic,  concerning  every  fantastic  and  ab- 
normal rock  and  pool,  such  as  the  Myo-kil  Sang,  the  colossal 
figure  of  Buddha  referred  to  before,  a  pothole  in  the  granite 
bed  of  the  stream,  the  wash-basin  of  some  mythical  Bodhi- 
sattva,  the  Fire  Dragon  Pool,  and  the  bathing-places  of  dragons 
in  the  fantastic  Man-pok-Tong  (Grotto  of  Myriad  Cascades), 
and  the  Lion  Stone  which  repelled  the  advance  of  the  Japa- 
nese invaders  in  1592. 

Beyond  the  third  monastery  the  gorge  becomes  wider  and 
less  fantastic,  the  forest  thinner,  allowing  scattered  glimpses  of 
the  sky,  and  finally  some  long  zigzags  take  the  traveller  up  to 
the  open  grassy  summit  of  the  An-mun-chai,  on  which  plums, 
pears,  cherries,  blush  azaleas,  and  pink  rhododendrons,  which 
had  long  ceased  blooming  below,  were  in  their  first  flush  of 
beauty.  To  the  west  the  difficult  country  of  the  previous 
week's  journey,  gray  granite,  deep  valleys,  and  tiger-haunted 
forest  faded  into  a  veil  of  blue,  and  in  the  east,  over  diminish- 
ing forest-covered  ranges,  gleamed  the  blue  Sea  of  Japan, 
more  than  4,000  feet  below. 

On  the  eastern  descent  there  are  gigantic  pines  and  firs, 
some  of  them  ruthlessly  barked,  and  the  long  dependent 
streamers  of  the  gray-green  Lycopodium  Sieboldii  with  which 
they  are  festooned,  give  the  forest  a  funereal  aspect.  Of  this 
the  peculiar  fringed  hats  are  made  which  are  worn  on  occasion 
by  both  monks  and  nuns.  After  many  downward  zigzags,  the 
track  enters  another  rocky  gorge  with  a  fine  torrent,  in  the 
bed  of  which  are  huge  **  potholes,"  shown  as  the  bathing- 
places  of  dragons,  whose  habits  must  have  been  much  clean- 
lier than  those  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  land. 


146  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  great  monastery  of  Yu-chom  Sa,  with  its  many  curved 
roofs  and  general  look  of  newness  and  wealth,  is  approached 
by  crossing  a  very  tolerable  bridge.  The  road,  which  passes 
through  a  well-kept  burial-ground,  where  the  ashes  of  the 
pious  and  learned  abbots  of  several  centuries  repose  under 
more  or  less  stately  monuments,  was  much  encumbered  near 
the  monastery  by  great  pine  logs  newly  hewn  for  its  restora- 
tion, which  was  being  carried  out  on  a  very  expensive  scale. 

The  monks  made  a  difficulty  about  receiving  us,  and  it  was 
not  till  after  some  delay,  and  the  production  of  my  kwan-ja, 
that  we  were  allotted  rooms  in  the  Government  buildings  for 
the  two  days  of  our  halt.  After  this  small  difficulty,  they  were 
unusually  kind  and  friendly,  and  one  of  the  young  priests,  who 
came  over  the  An-mun-chai  with  us,  offered  Mr.  Miller  the 
use  of  his  cell  on  Sunday,  saying  that  '*  it  would  be  a  quieter 
place  than  the  great  room  to  study  his  belief"  ! 

I  had  hoped  for  rest  and  quiet  on  the  following  day,  having 
had  rather  a  hard  week,  but  these  were  unattainable.  Besides 
70  monks  and  20  nuns,  there  were  nearly  200  lay  servitors 
and  carpenters,  and  all  were  bent  upon  ku-kydng,  the  first 
European  woman  to  visit  the  Keum-Kang  San  being  regarded 
as  a  great  sight,  and  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night  there 
was  no  rest.  The  kang  floor  of  my  room  being  heated  from 
the  kitchen,  it  was  too  hot  to  exist  with  the  paper  front  closed, 
and  the  crowds  of  monks,  nuns,  and  servitors,  finishing  with 
the  carpenters,  who  crowded  in  whenever  it  was  opened,  and 
hung  there  hour  after  hour,  nearly  suffocated  me,  the  day 
being  very  warm.  The  abbot  and  several  senior  monks  dis- 
cussed with  Mr.  Miller  the  merits  of  rival  creeds,  saying  that 
the  only  difference  between  Buddhists  and  ourselves  is  that 
they  don't  kill  even  the  smallest  insect,  while  we  disregard 
what  we  call  "animal  life,"  and  that  we  don't  look  upon 
monasticism  and  other  forms  of  asceticism  as  means  of  salva- 
tion. They  admitted  that  among  their  priests  there  are  more 
who  live  in  known  sin  than  strivers  after  righteousness. 


in 

:^ 

:0 

U 

I 

v: 
H 
O 

o 

W 

:^ 

c 

H 

o 

H 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries  147 

There  are  many  bright  busy  boys  about  Yu-chom  Sa,  most 
of  whom  had  already  had  their  heads  shaved.  To  one  who 
had  not,  Che  on-i  gave  a  piece  of  chicken,  but  he  refused  it 
because  he  was  a  Buddhist,  on  which  an  objectionable-looking 
old  sneak  of  a  priest  told  him  that  it  was  all  right  to  eat  it  so 
long  as  no  one  saw  him,  but  the  boy  persisted  in  his  refusal. 

At  midnight,  being  awakened  by  the  boom  of  the  great  bell 
and  the  disorderly  and  jarring  clang  of  innumerable  small 
ones,  I  went,  at  the  request  of  the  friendly  young  priest,  our 
fellow-traveller,  to  see  him  perform  the  devotions,  which  are 
taken  in  turn  by  the  monks. 

The  great  bronze  bell,  an  elaborate  piece  of  casting  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  stands  in  a  rude,  wooden,  clay-floored 
tower  by  itself.  A  dim  paper  lantern  on  a  dusty  rafter  barely 
lighted  up  the  white-robed  figure  of  the  devotee,  as  he  circled 
the  bell,  chanting  in  a  most  musical  voice  a  Sanscrit  litany,  of 
whose  meaning  he  was  ignorant,  striking  the  bosses  of  the  bell 
with  a  knot  of  wood  as  he  did  so.  Half  an  hour  passed  thus. 
Then  taking  a  heavy  mallet,  and  passing  to  another  chant,  he 
circled  the  bell  with  a  greater  and  ever-increasing  passion  of 
devotion,  beating  its  bosses  heavily  and  rhythmically,  faster 
and  faster,  louder  and  louder,  ending  by  producing  a  burst  of 
frenzied  sound,  which  left  him  for  a  moment  exhausted.  Then, 
seizing  the  swinging  beam,  the  three  full  tones  which  end  the 
worship,  and  which  are  produced  by  striking  the  bell  on  the 
rim,  which  is  8  inches  thick,  and  on  the  middle,  which  is  very 
thin,  made  the  tower  and  the  ground  vibrate,  and  boomed  up 
and  down  the  valley  with  their  unforgettable  music.  Of  that 
young  monk's  sincerity,  I  have  not  one  doubt. 

He  led  us  to  the  great  temple,  a  vast  "  chamber  of  imagery," 
where  a  solitary  monk  chanted  before  an  altar  in  the  light 
from  a  solitary  lamp  in  an  alabaster  bowl,  accompanying  his 
chant  by  striking  a  small  bell  with  a  deer  horn.  The  dim 
light  left  cavernous  depths  of  shadow  in  the  temple,  from 
which  eyes  and  teeth,  weapons,  and  arms  and  legs  of  other- 


148  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

wise  invisible  gods  and  devils  showed  uncannily.  Behind  the 
altar  is  a  rude  and  monstrous  piece  of  wood-carving  represent- 
ing the  upturned  roots  of  a  tree,  among  which  fifty-three  idols 
are  sitting  and  standing.  As  well  by  daylight  as  in  the  dim- 
ness of  midnight,  there  are  an  uncouthness  and  power  about 
this  gigantic  representation  which  are  very  impressive.  Below 
the  carving  are  three  frightful  dragons,  on  whose  faces  the  artist 
has  contrived  to  impress  an  expression  of  torture  and  defeat. 

The  legend  of  the  altar-piece  runs  thus.  When  fifty-three 
priests  come  to  Korea  from  India  to  introduce  Buddhism,  they 
reached  this  place,  and  being  weary,  sat  down  by  a  well  under 
a  spreading  tree.  Presently  three  dragons  came  up  from  the 
well  and  began  a  combat  with  the  Buddhists,  in  the  course  of 
which  they  called  up  a  great  wind  which  tore  up  the  tree. 
Not  to  be  out-manoeuvred,  each  priest  placed  an  image  of  Bud- 
dha on  a  root  of  the  tree,  turning  it  into  an  altar.  Finally, 
the  priests  overcome  the  dragons,  forced  them  into  the  well, 
and  piled  great  rocks  on  the  top  of  it  to  keep  them  there, 
founded  the  monastery,  and  built  this  temple  over  the  dragons' 
grave.  On  either  side  of  this  unique  altar-piece  is  a  bouquet 
of  peonies  4  feet  wide  by  10  feet  high. 

The  "private  apartments  "  of  this  and  the  other  monasteries 
consist  of  a  living  room,  and  very  small  single  cells,  each  with 
the  shrine  of  its  occupant,  and  all  very  clean.  It  must  be  re- 
membered, however,  that  this  easy,  peaceful,  luxurious  life 
only  lasts  for  a  part  of  the  year,  and  that  all  but  a  few  of  the 
monks  must  make  an  annual  tramp,  wallet  and  begging-bowl 
in  hand,  over  rough,  miry,  or  dusty  Korean  roads,  put  up 
with  vile  and  dirty  accommodation,  beg  for  their  living  from 
those  who  scorn  their  tonsure  and  their  creed,  and  receive 
"low  talk  "  from  the  lowest  in  the  land. 

Just  before  we  left,  the  old  abbot  invited  us  into  his  very 
charming  suite  of  rooms,  and  with  graceful  hospitality  pre- 
pared a  repast  for  us  with  his  own  hands — square  cakes  of  rich 
oily   pine   nuts  glued   together  with   honey,   thin   cakes   of 


Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries 


149 


*^  popped"  rice  and  honey,  sweet  cake,  Chinese  sweatmeat, 
honey,  and  bowls  of  honey  water  with  pine  nuts  floating  on  its 
surface.  The  oil  of  these  nuts  certainly  supplied  the  place  of 
animal  food  during  my  enforced  abstinence  from  it,  but  rich 
vegetable  oil  and  honey  soon  pall  on  the  palate,  and  the  abbot 
was  concerned  that  we  did  not  do  justice  to  our  entertainment. 
The  general  culture  produced  by  Buddhism  at  these  monaster- 
ies, and  the  hospitality,  consideration,  and  gentleness  of  de- 
portment, contrast  very  favorably  with  the  arrogance,  super- 
ciliousness, insolence,  and  conceit  which  I  have  seen  elsewhere 
in  Korea  among  the  so-called  followers  of  Confucius. 

When  we  departed  all  the  monks  and  laborers  bade  us  a 
courteous  farewell,  some  of  the  older  priests  accompanying  us 
for  a  short  distance. 

After  descending  tlie  slope  by  the  well-made  road  which 
leads  down  to  the  large  monastery  of  Sin-kyei  Sa,  at  the 
northeast  foot  of  the  Keum-Kang  San,  we  left  it  for  a  rough 
and  difficult  westerly  track,  which,  after  affording  some  bright 
gleams  of  the  Sea  of  Japan,  enters  dense  forest  full  of  great 
boulders  and  magnificent  specimens  of  the  Filix  mas  and 
Osmuinda  regalis.  A  severe  climb  up  and  down  an  irregular, 
broken  staircase  of  rock  took  us  over  the  Ki-cho  Pass,  3,700 
feet  in  altitude,  after  which  there  is  a  tedious  march  of  some 
hours  along  bare  and  unpicturesque  mountain-sides  before 
reaching  the  well-made  path  which  leads  through  pine  woods 
to  the  beautiful  plateau  of  Chang-an  Sa.  The  young  priest 
had  kept  our  baggage  carefully,  but  the  heat  of  his  floor  had 
melted  the  candles  in  the  boxes  and  had  turned  candy  into 
molasses,  making  havoc  among  photographic  materials  at  the 
same  time ! 


CHAPTER  XII 

ALONG    THE   COAST 

ON  leaving  Chang-an  Sa  for  Won-san  we  retraced  our  route 
as  far  as  Kal-ron-gi,  and  afterwards  crossed  the  Mak-pai 
Pass,  from  which  there  is  a  grand  view  of  the  Keum-Kang  San. 
Much  of  a  somewhat  tedious  day  was  spent  in  crossing  a  roll- 
ing elevated  plateau  bordered  by  high  denuded  hills,  on  which 
the  potatoe  flourishes  at  a  height  of  2,500  feet.  The  soil  is 
very  fertile,  but  not  being  suited  to  rice,  is  very  little  occupied. 
Crossing  the  Sai-kal-chai,  2,200  feet  in  altitude,  the  infamous 
road  descends  on  a  beautiful  alluvial  valley,  a  rich  farming 
country,  sprinkled  with  hamlets  and  surrounded  by  pretty  hills 
wooded  with  scrub  oak,  which  in  the  spring  is  very  largely 
used  for  fertilizing  rice  fields.  The  branches  are  laid  on  the 
inundated  surface  till  the  leaves  rot  off,  and  they  are  then  re- 
moved for  fuel.  In  this  innocent-looking  valley  the  tiger 
scare  was  in  full  force.  A  tiger,  the  people  said,  had  carried 
off  a  woman  the  previous  week,  and  a  dog  and  pig  the  pre- 
vious night.  It  seemed  incredible,  yet  there  was  a  consensus 
of  evidence.  Tigers  are  occasionally  trapped  in  that  region 
by  baiting  a  pit  with  a  dog  or  pig,  and  the  ensnared  animal  is 
destroyed  by  poison  or  hunger  to  avoid  injury  to  the  skin, 
which,  if  it  is  that  of  a  fine  animal,  is  very  valuable. 

A  man  is  not  the  least  ashamed  of  saying  that  he  has  not 
nerve  or  pluck  for  tiger-hunting,  which  in  Korea  is  a  danger- 
ous game,  for  the  hunters  are  stationed  at  the  head  of  a  gorge, 
usually  behind  brushwood,  and  sometimes  behind  rocks,  the 
big  game,  tigers  and  leopards,  being  driven  up  towards  them  by 

150 


Along  the  Coast  151 

large  bodies  of  men.  When  one  realizes  that  the  arms  used 
are  matchlocks  lighted  by  slow  matches  from  cords  wound 
round  the  arm,  and  that  the  charge  consists  of  three  imper- 
fectly rounded  balls  the  size  of  a  pea,  and  that,  owing  to  the 
thickness  of  the  screen  behind  which  the  hunters  are  posted,  the 
game  is  only  sighted  when  quite  close  upon  them,  one  ceases  to 
wonder  at  the  reluctance  of  the  village  peasants  to  turn  out  in 
pursuit  of  a  man-eater,  even  though  the  bones  bring  a  very  high 
price  as  Chinese  medicine. 

We  put  up  at  the  only  inn  in  the  region.  It  had  no  *'  clean 
room,"  but  the  landlord's  wife  gave  up  hers  to  me  on  con- 
dition that  I  would  not  keep  the  door  open  for  fear  of  a  tiger. 
The  temperature  was  93°,  and  to  secure  a  little  ventilation  and 
yet  keep  my  promise,  I  tore  the  paper  off  the  lattice-work  of 
the  door.  Mr.  Miller  described  his  circumstances  thus.  "  I 
wanted  to  sleep  in  the  yard,  but  the  host  would  not  let  me  for 
fear  of  tigers,  so  I  had  to  sleep  in  a  room  8  feet  by  10  "  (with 
a  hot  floor),  "with  seven  other  men,  a  cat,  and  a  bird.  By 
tearing  the  paper  off  a  window  near  my  head  I  saved  myself 
from  death  by  suffocation,  and  could  have  had  a  good  night's 
rest  had  not  the  four  horses  been  crowded  into  two  stalls  in  the 
kitchen.  They  found  their  quarters  so  close  that  they  squealed, 
kicked,  bit,  and  fought  all  night,  and  their  drivers  helped  them 
to  make  night  hideous  by  their  yelling."  Nobody  slept,  and 
I  had  my  full  share  of  the  unrest  and  disturbance,  a  bad 
preparation  for  an  eleven  hours'  ride  on  the  next  day,  which 
was  fiercely  hot,  as  were  the  remaining  six  days  of  the  journey. 

The  road  from  this  lofty  tiger-haunted  valley  to  the  sea  level 
at  Chyung-Tai  is  for  the  most  part  through  valleys  very  sparsely 
peopled.  Much  forest  land,  however,  was  being  cleared  for 
the  planting  of  cotton,  and  the  peasant  farmers  are  energetic 
enough  to  carry  their  cultivation  to  a  height  of  2,000  feet. 
[On  nearly  the  whole  of  this  journey  I  estimated  that  the  land 
is  capable  of  supporting  double  its  present  population.]  At 
Hoa-chung,  a   prettily  situated  market-place,  a  student  who 


152  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

had  successfully  passed  the  literary  examination  at  the  Kwagga 
in  Seoul,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  in  bright  colored  festive 
clothing,  was  celebrating  his  return  by  sacrificing  at  his 
father's  grave.  On  the  various  roads  there  were  many  proces- 
sions escorting  village  students  home  from  the  great  competi- 
tion in  the  Royal  presence  at  the  capital,  the  student  in 
colored  clothes,  on  a  gaily-caparisoned  horse  or  ass,  with 
music  and  flags  in  front  of  him,  and  friends,  gaily  dressed, 
walking  beside  him.  On  approaching  his  village  he  was  met 
with  flags  and  music,  the  headman  and  villagers,  even  the 
women  in  gay  apparel,  going  out  to  welcome  him.  After  this 
success  he  was  entitled  to  erect  a  tall  pole,  with  a  painted 
dragon  upon  it,  in  front  of  his  house.  Success  was,  how- 
ever, very  costly,  and  often  hung  the  millstone  of  debt  round 
a  man's  neck  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  After  "  passing" 
the  student  became  eligible  for  official  position,  the  sole  object 
of  ambition  to  an  "  educated"  Korean. 

At  Hoa-chung  we  turned  eastwards,  and  took  the  main  road 
to  the  coast,  attaining  an  altitude  (uncorrected)  of  3,117  feet 
by  continued  ascents  over  rounded  hills,  which,  when  not  ab- 
solutely bare  except  for  coarse,  unlovely  grasses,  only  produced 
stunted  hazel  bush.  After  this  an  easy  ascent  among  abso- 
lutely denuded  hills  leads  up  to  a  spirit  shrine  of  more  than 
usual  importance,  crowded  with  the  customary  worthless  ex 
votos,  rags  and  old  straw  shoes.  At  that  point  the  road  makes 
an  altogether  unexpected  and  surprising  plunge  over  the  bare 
shoulders  of  a  bare  hill  into  Paradise  ! 

This  pass  of  the  ''Ninety-nine  Turns,"  Tchyu-Chi-chang, 
deserves  its  name,  the  number  of  sharp  zigzags  not  being  ex- 
aggerated, as  in  the  case  of  the  "Twelve  Thousand  Peaks." 
It  is  so  absolutely  rocky,  and  so  difficult  in  consequence,  that 
it  is  more  passable  in  snow  than  in  summer.  Its  abrupt  turns 
lead  down  a  forest-clothed  mountain  ridge  into  a  magnificent 
gorge,  densely  wooded  with  oak,  Spanish  chestnut,  weeping 
lime,  Abies  exce/sa,  and  magnolia,  looped  together  with  the 


Along  the  Coast  i  ^3 

white  mille-fleur  rose.  On  the  northern  side  rises  Hoang- 
chyong  San,  a  noble  mountain  and  conspicuous  landmark, 
much  broken  up  into  needles  and  precipices,  and  clothed 
nearly  to  its  summit  with  forests,  of  which  the  Finns  sylvestris 
is  the  monarch.  The  descent  of  the  pass  takes  one  hour  and  a 
half,  the  road  coming  down  upon  a  torrent  50  feet  wide,  only 
visible  in  glints  of  foam  here  and  there,  amid  its  smothering 
overgrowth  of  blossoming  magnolia,  syringa,  and  roses. 

The  filthy,  miserable  hamlet  of  Chyung-Tai,  composed  of 
five  hovels,  all  inns,  was  rather  a  comfortless  close  to  a  fatigu- 
ing day.  These  houses  are  roofed,  as  in  some  other  villages, 
with  thick  slabs  of  wood  heaped  on  each  other,  kept  on,  so 
far  as  they  are  kept  on,  by  big  stones.  The  forest  above  on 
the  mountains  is  a  Royal  reservation,  made  so  by  the  first  king 
of  this  dynasty,  who  built  stone  walls  round  the  larger  trees. 

I  had  occasion  to  notice  at  Chyung-Tai,  and  in  many  other 
places,  the  extreme  voracity  of  the  Koreans.  They  eat  not 
to  satisfy  hunger,  but  to  enjoy  the  sensation  of  repletion.  The 
training  for  this  enjoyment  begins  at  a  very  early  age,  as  I  had 
several  opportunities  of  observing.  A  mother  feeds  her  young 
child  with  rice,  and  when  it  can  eat  no  more  in  an  upright 
position,  lays  it  on  its  back  on  her  lap  and  feeds  it  again,  tap- 
ping its  stomach  from  time  to  time  with  a  flat  spoon  to  ascer- 
tain if  further  cramming  is  possible.  "  The  child  is  father  to 
the  man,"  and  the  adult  Korean  shows  that  he  has  reached  the 
desirable  stage  of  repletion  by  eructations,  splutterings,  slap- 
ping his  stomach,  and  groans  of  satisfaction,  looking  round 
with  a  satisfied  air.  A  quart  of  rice,  which  when  cooked  is 
of  great  bulk,  is  a  laborer's  meal,  but  besides  there  are  other 
dishes,  which  render  its  insipidity  palatable.  Among  them 
are  pounded  capscicum,  soy,  various  native  sauces  of  abomi- 
nable odors,  kirns  hi,  a  species  of  sour  kraut,  seaweed,  salt  fish, 
and  salted  seaweed  fried  in  batter.  The  very  poor  only  take 
two  meals  a  day,  but  those  who  can  afford  it  take  three  and 
four. 


154  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

In  this  respect  of  voracity  all  classes  are  alike.  The  great 
merit  of  a  meal  is  not  so  much  quality  as  quantity,  and  from 
infancy  onwards  one  object  in  life  is  to  give  the  stomach  as 
much  capacity  and  elasticity  as  is  possible,  so  that  four  pounds 
of  rice  daily  may  not  incommode  it.  People  in  easy  circum- 
stances drink  wine  and  eat  great  quantities  of  fruit,  nuts,  and 
confectionery  in  the  intervals  between  meals,  yet  are  as  ready 
to  tackle  the  next  food  as  though  they  had  been  starving  for  a 
week.  In  well-to-do  houses  beef  and  dog  are  served  on  large 
trenchers,  and  as  each  guest  has  his  separate  table,  a  host  can 
show  generosity  to  this  or  that  special  friend  without  helping 
others  to  more  than  is  necessary.  I  have  seen  Koreans  eat 
more  than  three  pounds  of  solid  meat  at  one  meal.  Large  as 
a  *'  portion  "  is,  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  a  Korean  eat  three  and 
even  four,  and  where  people  abstain  from  these  excesses  it 
may  generally  be  assumed  that  they  are  too  poor  to  indulge  in 
them.  It  is  quite  common  to  see  from  twenty  to  twenty-five 
peaches  or  small  melons  disappear  at  a  single  sitting,  and  with- 
out being  peeled.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  enormous 
consumption  of  red  pepper,  which  is  supplied  even  to  infants, 
helps  this  gluttonous  style  of  eating.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  dyspepsia  and  kindred  evils  are  very  common  among 
Koreans. 

The  Korean  is  omnivorous.  Dog  meat  is  in  great  request  at 
certain  seasons,  and  dogs  are  extensively  bred  for  the  table. 
Pork,  beef,  fish,  raw,  dried,  and  salted,  the  intestines  of 
animals,  all  birds  and  game,  no  part  being  rejected,  are  eaten 
— a  baked  fowl,  with  its  head,  claws,  and  interior  intact,  being 
the  equivalent  of  ''the  fatted  calf."  Cooking  is  not  always 
essential.  On  the  Han  I  saw  men  taking  fish  off  the  hook, 
and  after  plunging  them  into  a  pot  of  red  pepper  sauce,  eating 
them  at  once  with  their  bones.  Wheat,  barley,  maize,  millet, 
the  Irish  and  sweet  potato,  oats,  peas,  beans,  rice,  radishes, 
turnips,  herbs,  and  wild  leaves  and  roots  innumerable,  sea- 
weed, shrimps,  pastry  made  of  flour,  sugar,  and  oil,  kimshi, 


Along  the  Coast  i^^ 

on  the  making  of  which  tlie  whole  female  population  of  the 
middle  and  lower  classes  is  engaged  in  November,  a  home- 
made vermicelli  of  buckwheat  flour  and  white  of  egg,  largely 
made  up  into  a  broth,  soups,  dried  persimmons,  sponge-cakes, 
cakes  of  the  edible  pine  nut  and  honey,  of  flour,  sugar,  and 
sesamum  seeds,  onions,  garlic,  lily  bulbs,  chestnuts,  and  very 
much  else  are  eaten.  Oil  of  sesamum  is  largely  used  in  cook- 
ing, as  well  as  vinegar,  soy,  and  other  sauces  of  pungent  and 
objectionable  odors,  the  basis  of  most  of  them  being  capsicums 
and  fermented  rotten  beans  ! 

The  magistracy  of  Thong-chhon,  where  we  halted  the  next 
day  at  noon,  and  where  the  curiosity  of  the  people  was  abso- 
lutely suffocating^  is  a  town  sheltered  from  the  sea,  which  is 
within  2  miles,  by  a  high  ridge,  and  is  situated  prettily  in  a 
double  fold  of  hills  remarkable  for  the  artistic  natural  group- 
ing of  very  grand  pines. 

At  this  point  a  spell  of  the  most  severe  heat  of  the  year  set 
in,  and  the  remainder  of  the  journey  was  accomplished  in  a 
temperature  ranging  from  89°  to  100°  in  the  shade,  and  sel- 
dom falling  below  80°  at  night,  phenomenal  heat  for  the  first 
days  of  June.  Taking  advantage  of  it,  the  whole  male  popu- 
lation was  in  the  fields  rice  planting.  Rice  valleys,  reaching 
the  unusual  magnitude  for  Korea  of  from  3  to  7  miles  in 
breadth,  and  from  6  to  14  miles  in  length,  sloping  gently  to 
the  sea,  with  innumerable  villages  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills 
which  surround  them,  were  numerous.  Among  them  I  saw, 
for  the  only  time,  reservoirs  for  the  storage  of  water  for  irriga- 
tion. The  pink  ibis  and  the  spotted  green  frog  were  abundant 
everywhere.  The  country  there  has  a  look  of  passable  pros- 
perity, but  the  people  are  kept  at  a  low  level  by  official  exac- 
tions. 

On  this  coast  of  Kong-won -Do  are  the  P'al-kyong  or  '^  Eight 
Views,"  which  are  of  much  repute  in  Korea.  We  passed  two 
of  them.  Su-chung  Dai  (The  Place  Between  the  Waters)  is  a 
narrow  strip  of  elevated  white  sand  with  the  long  roll  of  the 


156  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Pacific  on  the  east,  and  the  gentle  plash  of  a  lovely  fresh-water 
lake  on  the  west.  This  lake  of  Ma-cha  Tong,  the  only  body 
of  fresh  water  which  I  saw  in  Korea,  about  6  miles  in  length 
by  2  in  breadth,  has  mountainous  shores  much  broken  by  bays 
and  inlets,  at  the  head  of  each  of  which  is  a  village  half  hid- 
den among  trees  in  the  folds  of  the  hills,  while  wooded  conical 
islets  break  the  mirror  of  the  surface.  On  the  white  barrier 
of  sand  there  are  some  fine  specimens  of  the  red-stemmed 
Pinus  sylvesfris,  with  a  carpet  of  dwarf  crimson  roses  and 
pink  lilies.  Among  the  mountain  forests  are  leopards,  tigers, 
and  deer,  and  the  call  of  the  pheasant  and  the  cooing  of  the 
wild  dove  floated  sweetly  from  the  lake  shore.  It  was  an  idyll 
of  peace  and  beauty.  The  other  of  the  "Eight  Views"  is 
rather  a  curiosity  than  a  beauty,  miles  of  cream-colored  sand 
blown  up  in  wavy  billows  as  high  as  the  plumy  tops  of  thou- 
sands of  fir  trees  which  are  helplessly  embedded  in  it. 

During  the  long  hot  ride  of  eleven  hours,  visions  of  the 
evening  halt  at  a  peaceful  village  on  the  seashore  filled  my 
mind,  and  hope  made  the  toilsome  climb  over  several  promon- 
tories of  black  basalt  tolerable,  even  though  the  descents  were 
so  steep  that  the  mapu  held  the  ponies  up  by  their  tails  !  In 
the  early  twilight,  when  the  fierce  sun  blaze  was  over,  in  the 
smoky  redness  of  a  heated  evening  atmosphere,  when  every 
rock  was  giving  forth  the  heat  it  had  absorbed  in  the  day, 
across  the  stream  which  is  at  once  the  outlet  of  the  lake  and 
the  boundary  between  the  provinces  of  Kang-won  and  Ham- 
gyong,  appeared  a  large,  straggling,  gray-roofed  village,  above 
high-water  mark,  on  a  beach  of  white  sand.  Several  fishing 
junks  were  lying  in  shelter  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream. 
Women  were  beating  clothes  and  drawing  water,  and  children 
and  dogs  were  rolling  over  each  other  on  the  sand,  all  more  or 
less  idealized  by  being  silhouetted  in  purple  against  the  hot, 
lurid  sky. 

As  the  enchantment  of  distance  faded  and  Ma-cha  Tong 
revealed  itself  in  plain  prose,  fading  from  purple   into  sober 


Along  the  Coast  157 

gray,  the  ideal  of  a  romantic  halt  by  the  pure  sea  vanished. 
A  long,  crooked,  tumble-down  narrow  street,  with  narrower 
off-shoots,  heaps  of  fish  offal  and  rubbish,  in  which  swine, 
mangy,  blear-eyed  dogs,  and  children,  much  afflicted  with 
skin  disease,  were  indiscriminately  routing  and  rolling,  pools 
covered  with  a  thick  brown  scum,  a  stream  which  had  degen- 
erated into  an  open  sewer,  down  which  thick  green  slime 
flowed  tardily,  a  beach  of  white  sand,  the  upper  part  of  which 
was  blackened  with  fish  laid  out  to  dry,  frames  for  drying  fish 
everywhere,  men,  women,  children,  all  as  dirty  in  person  and 
clothing  as  it  was  possible  to  be,  thronging  the  roadway  as  we 
approached,  air  laden  with  insupportable  odors,  and  the  vilest 
accommodation  I  ever  had  in  Korea,  have  fixed  this  night  in 
my  memory. 

The  inn,  if  inn  it  was,  gave  me  a  room  8  feet  by  6,  and  5 
feet  2  inches  high.  Ang-paks,  for  it  was  the  family  granary, 
iron  shoes  of  ploughs  and  spades,  bundles  of  foul  rags,  sea- 
weed, ears  of  millet  hanging  in  bunches  from  the  roof,  pack 
saddles,  and  worse  than  all  else,  rotten  beans  fermenting  for 
soy,  and  malodorous  half-salted  fish,  just  left  room  for  my 
camp-bed.  This  den  opened  on  a  vile  yard,  partly  dunghill 
and  partly  pigpen,  in  which  is  the  well  from  which  the  women 
of  the  house,  with  sublime  sang-froid,  draw  the  drinking 
water  !  Outside  is  a  swamp,  which  throughout  the  night  gave 
off  sickening  odors.  Every  few  minutes  something  was  wanted 
from  my  room,  and  as  there  was  not  room  for  two,  I  had  every 
time  to  go  out  into  the  yard.  Wong's  good-night  was,  <*I 
hope  you  won't  die."  When  I  entered,  the  mercury  was  87°. 
After  that,  cooking  for  man  and  beast  and  the  kang  floor 
raised  it  to  107°,  at  which  point  it  stood  till  morning,  vivify- 
ing into  revoltingly  active  life  myriads  of  cockroaches  and 
vermin  which  revel  in  heat,  not  to  speak  of  rats,  which  ran 
over  my  bed,  ate  my  candle,  gnawed  my  straps,  and  would 
have  left  me  without  boots,  had  I  not  long  before  learned  to 
hang  them  from  the  tripod  of  my  camera.     From  nine  years 


158  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

of  travelling,  some  of  it  very  severe  and  comfortless,  that 
night  stands  out  as  hideously  memorable. 

The  raison  d'etre  of  Ma-cha  Tong,  and  the  numerous  coast 
villages  which  exist  wherever  a  convenient  shore  and  a  protec- 
tion for  boats  occur  together,  is  the  coast  fishing.  The  fact 
that  a  floating  population  of  over  8,000  Japanese  fishermen 
make  a  living  by  fishing  on  the  coast  near  Fusan  shows  that 
there  is  a  redundant  harvest  to  be  reaped.  The  Korean  fish- 
erman is  credited  with  utter  want  of  enterprise,  and  Mr. 
Oiesen,  in  the  Customs'  report  for  Won-san  for  1891,  accuses 
him  of  ''remaining  content  with  such  fish  as  will  run  into 
crudely  and  easily  constructed  traps,  set  out  along  the  shore, 
which  only  require  attention  for  an  hour  or  so  each  day."  I 
must,  however,  say  that  each  village  that  I  passed  possessed 
from  seven  to  twelve  fishing  junks,  which  were  kept  at  sea. 
They  are  unseaworthy  boats,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  they 
hug  the  shore.  I  believe  that  the  fishing  industry,  with  every 
other,  is  paralyzed  by  the  complete  insecurity  of  the  earnings 
of  labor  and  by  the  exactions  of  officials,  and  that  the  Korean 
fisherman  does  not  care  to  earn  money  of  which  he  will  surely 
be  deprived  on  any  or  no  pretence,  and  that,  along  with  the 
members  of  the  industrial  classes  generally,  he  seeks  the  pro- 
tection of  poverty. 

The  fish  taken  on  this  coast,  when  salted  and  dried,  find 
their  way  by  boat  to  Won-san,  and  from  thence  over  central 
Korea,  but  in  winter  pedlars  carry  them  directly  inland  from 
the  fishing  villages.  Salterns  on  the  plan  of  those  often  seen 
in  China  occur  frequently  near  the  villages.  The  operation  of 
making  salt  from  sea  water  is  absolutely  primitive,  and  so  rough 
and  dirty  that  the  whiteness  of  the  coarse  product  which  re- 
sults is  an  astonishment.  In  spite  of  heavy  losses  and  heavier 
"squeezings,"  this  industry,  which  is  carried  on  from  May  to 
October,  is  a  profitable  one. 

The  road  beyond  that  noisome  halting-place  traverses  pic- 
turesque country  for  many  miles,  being  cut  out  of  the  sides  of 


Along  the  Coast  159 

noble  cliffs,  or  crosses  basaltic  spurs  by  arrangements  resem- 
bling rock  ladders,  keeping  perforce  always  close  to  the  sea, 
now  on  dizzy  precipices,  then  descending  to  firm  hard  stretches 
of  golden  sand,  or  winding  just  above  high-water  mark  among 
colossal  boulders  which  are  completely  covered  with  the  Am- 
pelopsis  Veitchiafia,  the  creeper /c?r  ^jc^^/Zf//^^  of  Korea.  The 
sea  was  green  and  violet  near  the  shore  and  a  vivid  blue  in  the 
distance,  and  on  its  rippleless  surface  fishing  boats  with  gray 
hulls  and  brown  sails  lay  motionless,  for  the  rush  and  swirl  of 
tides,  rising  and  falling  as  they  do  on  the  west  coast  from  25 
to  38  feet,  are  unknown  on  the  east  coast,  the  variation  between 
high  and  low  water  being  within  18  inches. 

It  was  the  hottest  day  of  the  year,  and  it  was  fortunate  that 
the  prettily  situated  market-place  of  Syo-im  had  a  new  and 
clean  inn,  in  which  it  was  possible  to  prolong  the  noonday 
halt,  and  to  get  a  good  dinner  of  fresh  and  salt  fish,  vegetables, 
herbs,  sauces,  and  rice,  for  the  sum  of  two  cents  gold.  There 
also,  being  the  market-day,  Mr.  Miller  succeeded  in  obtaining 
cash  for  four  silver  _y^7^  from  the  pedlars. 

After  passing  over  a  tedious  sandy  plain  with  a  reserve  of 
fine  firs,  under  which  the  countless  dead  of  ages  lie  under  great 
sand  mounds  held  together  by  nets  or  branches  of  trees,  we 
reached  at  sunset  my  ideal,  a  clean,  exquisitely  situated  vil- 
lage of  nine  houses,  of  which  one  was  an  inn  where,  contrary 
to  the  general  rule,  we  were  made  cordially  welcome,^  The 
nine  families  at  Chin-pul  possessed  seven  good-sized  fishing 
boats. 

That  inn  is  of  unusual  construction.     There  is  a  broad  mud 

1 A  kwan-ja,  being  an  official  passport,  lays  a  traveller  open  to  the  sus- 
picion that,  like  officials,  he  will  take  the  best  of  everything  he  can  get 
without  paying  for  it,  and  this  dread,  added  to  a  natural  distrust  of  for- 
eigners, led  to  more  or  less  unwillingness  to  receive  us  in  many  places, 
the  mapu  having  to  console  the  people  by  asseverating  that  I  paid  the  full 
price  for  all  I  got,  and  that  even  when  I  tore  a  sheet  of  paper  from  the 
window  I  paid  for  it ! 


l6o  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

platform  of  which  fireplaces  and  utensils  for  cooking  for  man 
and  beast  occupy  one  half,  and  the  other  is  matted  for  sleeping 
and  eating.  My  room,  which  had  no  window,  but  was  clean 
and  plastered,  opened  on  this,  and  as  the  mercury  was  at  iii° 
until  3  A.  M.  owing  to  the  heated  floor,  I  sat  at  the  door  nearly 
all  night,  so  the  dawn  and  an  early  start,  and  the  coolness  of 
the  green  and  violet  shades  of  the  almost  rippleless  ocean, 
which  laved  its  varied  shore  of  bays,  promontories,  and  lofty 
cliffs,  were  very  welcome. 

A  valley  opening  on  the  sea  which  it  took  five  hours  to  skirt 
and  cross,  covered  with  grain  and  newly  planted  rice,  is  liter- 
ally fringed  with  villages,  which  look  comfortably  prosperous 
in  spite  of  exactions.  A  smaller  valley  contains  about  3,000 
acres  of  rice  land  only,  and  on  the  slopes  surrounding  all  these 
are  rich  lands,  bearing  heavy  crops  of  wheat,  millet,  barley, 
cotton,  tobacco,  castor  oil,  sesamum,  oats,  turnips,  peas,  beans, 
and  potatoes.  The  ponies  are  larger  and  better  kept  in  that 
region,  and  the  red  bulls  are  of  immense  size.  The  black  pig, 
however,  is  as  small  and  mean  as  ever.  The  crops  were  clean, 
and  the  rice  dykes  and  irrigation  channels  well  kept.  Good 
and  honest  government  would  create  as  happy  and  prosperous 
a  people  as  the  traveller  finds  in  Japan,  the  soil  being  very 
similar,  while  Korea  has  a  far  better  climate. 

During  the  land  journey  from  Chang-an  Sa  to  Won-san  I 
had  better  opportunities  of  seeing  the  agricultural  methods  of 
the  Koreans  than  in  the  valleys  of  the  Han.  As  compared 
with  the  exquisite  neatness  of  the  Japanese  and  the  diligent 
thriftiness  of  the  Chinese,  Korean  agriculture  is  to  some  extent 
wasteful  and  untidy.  Weeds  are  not  kept  down  in  the  summer 
as  they  ought  to  be,  stones  are  often  left  on  the  ground,  and 
there  is  a  raggedness  about  the  margins  of  fields  and  dykes 
and  a  dilapidation  about  stone  walls  which  is  unpleasing  to  the 
eye.  The  paths  through  the  fields  are  apt  to  be  much  worn 
and  fringed  with  weeds,  and  the  furrows  are  not  so  straight  as 
they  might  be.     Yet  on  the  whole  the  cultivation  is  much  bet- 


Along  the  Coast  i6l 

ter  and  the  majority  of  the  crops  far  cleaner  than  I  had  been 
led  to  expect.  Domestic  animals  are  very  few,  and  very  little 
fertilizing  material  is  applied  to  the  ground  except  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Seoul  and  other  cities,  a  fact  which  makes  its  ex- 
ceeding fertility  very  noteworthy. 

The  rainfall  is  abundant  but  not  excessive,  and  the  desolat- 
ing floods  which  afflict  Korea's  opposite  neighbor,  Japan,  are 
as  unknown  as  earthquakes.  Irrigation  is  only  necessary  for 
rice,  which  is  the  staple  of  Korea.  Except  on  certain  rice 
lands,  two  crops  a  year  are  raised  throughout  central  and  south- 
ern Korea,  the  rice  being  planted  in  June,  or  rather  trans- 
planted from  the  nurseries  in  which  it  is  sown  in  May,  and  is 
harvested  early  in  October,  when  the  ground  is  ploughed  and 
barley  or  rye  is  sown,  which  ripens  in  May  or  early  June  of 
the  next  year,  after  which  water  is  let  in,  the  field  is  again 
ploughed  while  flooded,  and  the  rice  plants  are  set  out  in  rows 
of  *' clumps,"  two  or  four  or  even  six  plants  in  a  *' clump." 
Where  only  one  crop  is  raised,  the  rice  field  lies  fallow  from 
the  end  of  October  till  the  following  May.  In  wheat,  barley, 
or  rye  fields  the  sowing  is  in  October,  and  the  harvest  in  May 
or  June,  after  which  beans,  peas,  and  other  vegetables  are  sown. 
Along  the  "great  roads,"  as  the  crops  approach  ripeness,  ele- 
vated watch-sheds  are  erected  in  the  fields  as  safeguards  against 
depredations.  The  crops,  on  the  whole,  are  very  fine,  and 
would  be  immense  were  it  not  for  the  paucity  of  fertilizing 
material. 

Agricultural  implements  are  rude  and  few.  A  wooden 
ploughshare  with  a  removable  iron  shoe  is  used  which  turns 
the  furrows  the  reverse  way  to  ours.  A  wooden  spade,  also 
shod  with  iron,  is  largely  used  for  heavy  work.  This,  which 
excites  the  ridicule  of  foreigners  as  a  gratuitous  waste  of  man 
power,  is  furnished  with  several  ropes  attached  to  the  blade, 
each  of  which  is  jerked  by  a  man  while  another  man  guides 
the  blade  into  the  ground  by  its  long  handle.  The  other  im- 
plements are  the  same  sort  of  sharp-pointed  sharp  hoe  which  is 


i62  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

in  use  in  China,  and  which  in  the  hands  of  the  eastern 
peasant  fills  the  place  of  shovel,  hoe,  and  spade,  a  reaping 
hook,  a  short  knife,  a  barrow,  and  a  bamboo  rake  which  is 
largely  used  in  the  denudation  of  the  hills. 

Grain,  peas,  and  beans  are  threshed  out  with  flails  as  often 
as  not  in  the  roadway  of  a  village,  while  the  grinding  of  flour 
and  the  hulling  of  rice  are  accomplished  by  the  stone  quern, 
and  the  stone  or  wooden  mortar,  with  an  iron  pestle  worked 
by  hand  or  foot,  the  ^^ pang- a,''  or,  as  has  been  previously 
described,  by  a  "  ;;////,"  or  water  ^^ pajig-a.''  Rice  is  threshed 
by  beating  the  ears  over  a  board,  and  all  grain  is  winnowed  by 
being  thrown  up  in  the  wind. 

The  pony  is  not  used  in  agriculture.  Ploughing  is  done  by 
the  powerful,  noble,  tractable,  Korean  bull,  a  cane  ring  placed 
in  his  nostrils  when  young  rendering  him  manageable  even  by 
a  young  child.  He  is  four  years  in  attaining  maturity,  and  is 
now  worth  from  ^3  to  ^£4,  his  value  having  been  enhanced 
by  the  late  war  and  the  prevalence  of  rinderpest  in  recent 
years.  Milk  is  not  an  article  of  diet.  In  some  districts  ox- 
sleds  of  very  simple  construction  are  used  for  bringing  down 
fuel  from  the  hills  and  produce  from  the  fields,  and  at  Seoul 
and  a  itw  other  cities  rude  carts  are  to  be  seen ;  but  ponies, 
men,  and  bulls  are  the  means  of  transport  for  produce  and 
goods,  the  loads  being  adjusted  evenly  on  wooden  pack 
saddles,  or  in  the  case  of  small  articles  in  panniers  of  plaited 
straw  or  netted  rope.  In  the  latter,  ingeniously  made  to  open 
at  the  bottom  and  discharge  their  contents,  manure  is  carried 
to  the  fields.  Both  bulls  and  ponies  are  shod  with  iron.  The 
pony  carries  from  160  to  200  lbs.  Sore  backs  are  lamentably 
common. 

The  breed  of  pigs  is  very  small.  Pigs  are  always  black  and 
loathsome.  Their  bristles  stand  up  along  their  backs,  and  they 
are  lean,  active,  and  of  specially  revolting  habits.  The  clogs 
are  big,  usually  buff,  long-haired,  and  cowardly,  and  cari- 
cature   the    Scotch    collie   in   their   aspect.     The   fowls   are 


Along  the  Coast  163 

plebeian,  and  for  wildness,  activity,  and  powers  of  flight  are 
unequalled  in  my  experience.  Ducks  are  not  very  common, 
and  geese  are  kept  chiefly  as  guards,  and  for  presentation  at 
weddings  as  emblems  of  fidelity.  The  few  sheep  bred  in 
Korea  are  reserved  for  Royal  sacrifices.  I  have  occasionally 
seen  mutton  on  tables  in  Seoul,  but  it  has  been  imported  from 
Ciiefoo.  The  villages  which  make  their  living  altogether  by 
agriculture  are  usually  off  the  high  roads,  those  which  the 
hasty  traveller  passes  through  depending  as  much  on  the  enter- 
taining of  wayfarers  as  on  the  cultivation  of  the  land.  In 
these,  nearly  every  house  has  a  covered  shelf  in  front  at  which 
food  can  be  obtained,  but  lodging  is  not  provided,  and  the 
villages  which  can  feed  and  lodge  beasts  as  well  as  men  are 
few.  The  fact  that  the  large  farming  villages  are  off  the  road 
gives  an  incorrect  notion  of  the  population  of  Korea. 

On  the  slope  of  a  hillside  above  a  pleasant  valley  lies  the 
town  of  An-byong,  once,  judging  from  the  extent  of  its  decay- 
ing walls  and  fortifications,  and  the  height  of  its  canopied  but 
ruinous  gate-towers,  a  large  city.  The  ya^nen  and  other  Gov- 
ernment buildings  are  well  kept,  and  being  in  good  repair,  are 
in  striking  contrast  to  those  previously  seen  on  the  route. 
The  ''main  street"  is,  however,  nothing  but  a  dirty  alley. 
The  towni  has  a  diminishing  population,  and  though  it  makes 
some  paper  from  the  Brouso7iettia  Papyriferay  and  has  several 
schools,  and  exchanges  rice  and  beans  for  foreign  cottons  at 
Won-san,  it  has  a  singularly  decaying  look,  and  is  altogether 
unworthy  of  its  position  as  being  one  of  the  chief  places  in  the 
province  of  Ham-gyong.  Outside  of  it  the  road  crosses  a 
remarkably  broad  river  bed  by  a  bridge  720  feet  long,  so 
dilapidated  that  the  ponies  put  their  feet  through  its  rotten 
sods  several  times. 

From  An-byong  to  Ta-ri-mak,  a  short  distance  from  Nam- 
San  on  the  main  road  from  Seoul  to  Won-san,  is  a  long  and 
tedious  ride  through  thinly  peopled  country  and  pine  woods 
full  of  graves.     We  spent  two  nights  there  at  a  very  noisy  and 


164  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

disagreeable  inn,  in  which  privacy  was  unattainable  and  the 
vermin  were  appalling.  There  the  host  was  specially  unwill- 
ing to  take  in  foreigners,  on  the  ground  that  we  should  not 
pay,  a  suspicion  which  irritated  our  friendly  mapu,  who 
vociferated  at  the  top  of  their  voices  that  we  paid  *'  even  for 
the  smallest  things  we  got."  The  swinging  season  was  at  hand, 
each  amusement  having  its  definite  date  for  beginning  and 
ending,  and  in  every  village  swings  were  being  erected  on  tall 
straight  poles.  Wong  could  never  resist  the  temptation  of 
taking  a  swing,  which  always  amused  the  people. 

At  this  inn  there  were  some  musical  performers  who  made 
both  night  and  day  wearisome  to  me,  but  gave  great  pleasure 
to  others.  I  have  not  previously  mentioned  my  sufferings  on 
the  Han  from  the  sounds  produced  by  itinerant  musicians,  and 
by  the  mutaiig  or  sorceress  and  her  coadjutors  ;  but,  as  has 
been  forcibly  brought  out  in  a  paper  on  Korean  music  by  Mr. 
Hulbert  in  the  Korean  Repository,^  the  sounds  are  peculiar 
and  unpleasing,  because  we  neither  know  nor  feel  what  they 
are  intended  to  express,  and  we  bring  to  Korean  music  not  the 
Korean  temperament  and  training  but  the  Western,  which  de- 
mands *' time  "  as  an  essential.  It  maybe  added  that  the 
Koreans,  like  their  neighbors  the  Japanese,  love  our  music  as 
little  as  we  love  theirs,  and  for  the  same  reason,  that  the  ideas 
we  express  by  it  are  unfamiliar  to  them. 

One  reason  of  the  afflictive  and  discordant  sounds  is  that 
the  gamut  of  Korea  differs  from  the  musical  scale  of  European 
countries,  with  the  result  that  whenever  music  seems  to  be 
trembling  on  the  verge  of  a  harmony,  a  discord  assails  the  ear. 
The  musical  instruments  are  many,  but  they  are  not  carefully 
finished.  Among  instruments  of  percussion  are  drums,  cym- 
bals, gongs,  and  a  species  of  castanet.  For  wind  instruments 
there  are  unkeyed  bugles,  flutes,  and  long  and  short  trumpets; 
and  the  stringed  instruments  are  a  large  guitar,  a  twenty-five 
stringed  guitar,  a  mandolin,  and  a  five-stringed  violin.  The 
1  February,  1896. 


Along  the  Coast  165 

discord  produced  by  a  concert  of  several  of  these  instruments 
is  lieard  in  perfection  at  the  opening  and  closing  of  the  gates 
of  cities. 

There  are  three  classes  of  Korean  vocal  music,  the  first  being 
the  Si-Jo  or  "classical "  style,  andante  tremtdoso,  and  "  punc- 
tuated with  drums,"  the  drum  accompaniment  consisting  mainly 
of  a  drum  beat  from  time  to  time  as  an  indication  to  the  vo- 
calist that  she  has  quavered  long  enough  upon  one  note.  The 
Si'jo  is  a  slow  process,  and  is  said  by  the  Koreans  to  require 
such  long  and  patient  practise  that  only -the  dancing  girls  can 
excel  in  it,  as  they  alone  have  leisure  to  cultivate  it.  One 
branch  of  it  deals  with  convivial  songs,  of  one  of  which  I 
give  a  translation  from  the  gifted  pen  of  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Hul- 
bert  of  Seoul. ^ 

The  Korean,  prisoned  during  the  winter  in  his  small,  dark, 
dirty,  and  malodorous  rooms,  with  neither  a  glowing  fireside 

J  I 

'Twas  years  ago  that  Kim  and  I 
Struck  hands  and  swore,  however  dry 
The  lip  might  be  or  sad  the  heart, 
The  merry  wine  should  have  no  part 
In  mitigating  sorrow's  blow 
Or  quenching  thirst.     'Twas  long  ago. 

II 

And  now  I've  reached  the  flood-tide  mark 

Of  life  ;  the  ebb  begins,  and  dark 

The  future  lowers.     The  tide  of  wine 

Will  never  ebb.     'Twill  aye  be  mine 

To  mourn  the  desecrated  fane 

Where  that  lost  pledge  of  youth  lies  slain. 

Ill 

Nay,  nay,  begone  !     The  jocund  bowl 
Again  shall  bolster  up  my  soul 
Against  itself.     What,  good-man,  hold! 
Canst  tell  me  where  red  wine  is  sold  ? 
Nay,  just  beyond  that  peach  tree  there  ? 
Good  luck  be  thine,  I'll  thither  fare. 


i66 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


nor  brilliant  lamp  to  mitigate  the  gloom,  welcomes  spring  with 
lively  excitement,  and  demands  music  and  song  as  its  natural  ac- 
companiment— song  that  shall  express  the  emancipation,  breath- 
ing space,  and  unalloyed  physical  pleasure  which  have  no  coun- 
terpart in  our  English  feelings.     Thus  a  classical  song  runs  : — 

The  willow  catkin  bears  the  vernal  blush  of  summer's  dawn 

When  winter's  night  is  done ; 
The  oriole,  who  preens  herself  aloft  on  swaying  bough, 

Is  summer's  harbinger ; 
The  butterfly,  with  noiseless  fiil-ful  of  her  pulsing  wing, 

Marks  off  the  summer  hour. 
Quick,  boy,  thy  zither !     Do  its  strings  accord  ?     'Tis  well. 

Strike  up  !     /  must  have  song. 

The  second  style  of  Korean  vocal  music  is  the  Ha  CKi  or 
popular.  The  most  conspicuous  song  in  this  class  is  the  A-ra- 
rilng,  of  782  verses.  It  is  said  that  the  A-ra-riing  holds  to  the 
Korean  in  music  the  same  place  that  rice  does  in  his  food — 
all  else  being  a  mere  appendage.  The  tune,  but  with  the  trills 
and  quavers,  of  which  there  are  one  or  two  to  each  note,  left 
out,  is  given  here,  though  Mr.  Hulbert,  to  whom  I  am  greatly 
indebted,  calls  it  '*  a  very  weak  attempt  to  score  it." 

a  -  ra-riing 


i^^^ 


i^ 


m. 


A  -  ra-riing     a  -  ra-riing     a  -  ra  -  ri  -  o  - 


61 


-   sa     pai  ddi-6  -    ra.  Mun-gyuugsai-chai  pak-tala-u. 


.nu  -    -    -    houg-do-kai  paug-maing-i      ta      na-kan-da. 

The  chorus  of  A-ra-ri'mg  is  invariable,  but  the  verses  wliich 
are  sung  in  connection  with  it  take  a  wide  range  through  the 
fields  of  lyrics,  epics,  and  didactics. 

There  is  a  third  style,  which  is  between  the  classical  and 
the  popular,  but  which  hardly  deserves  mention. 


Along  the  Coast  167 

To  my  thinking,  the  melancholy  which  seems  the  motif  of 
most  Oriental  music  becomes  an  extreme  plaintiveness  in  that 
of  Korea,  partly  due  probably  to  the  unlimited  quavering  on 
one  note.  While  what  may  be  called  concerted  music  is 
torture  to  a  Western  ear,  solos  on  the  flute  ofttimes  combine  a 
singular  sweetness  with  their  mournfulness  and  suggest  **  Far- 
off  Melodies."  Love  songs  are  popular,  and  there  is  a  tender 
grace  about  some  of  them,  as  well  as  an  occasional  glint  of 
humor,  as  indicated  by  the  last  line  of  the  third  stanza  of  one 
translated  by  Mr,  Gale.^     The  allusions  to  Nature  generally 

1  LOVE  SONG 
Farewell's  a  fire  that  burns  one's  heart, 
And  tears  are  rains  that  quench  in  part, 
But  then  the  winds  blow  in  one's  sighs, 
And  cause  the  flames  again  to  rise. 

My  soul  I've  mixed  up  with  the  wine. 

And  now  my  love  is  drinking, 

Into  his  orifices  nine 

Deep  down  its  spirit's  sinking. 

To  keep  him  true  to  me  and  mine, 

A  potent  mixture  is  the  wine. 

Silvery  moon  and  frosty  air. 
Eve  and  dawn  are  meeting; 
Widowed  wild  goose  flying  there, 
Hear  my  words  of  greeting! 
On  your  journey  should  you  see 
Him  I  love  so  broken-hearted. 
Kindly  say  this  word  for  me, 
That  it's  death  when  we  are  parted. 
Flapping  off  the  wild  goose  clambers, 
Says  she  will  if  she  remembers. 

Fill  the  ink-stone,  bring  the  water. 
To  my  love  I'll  write  a  letter; 
Ink  and  paper  soon  will  see 
The  one  that's  all  the  world  to  me, 
While  the  pen  and  I  together, 
Left  behind,  condole  each  other. 


l68  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

show  a  quick  and  sympathetic  insight  into  lier  beauties,  and  occa- 
sional stanzas,  of  which  the  one  cited  is  among  several  translated 
by  Mr.  Hulbert,  have  a  delicacy  of  touch  not  unworthy  of  an 
Elizabethan  poet.^  The  Korean  Repository  is  doing  a  good 
work  in  making  Korean  poetry  accessible  to  English  readers. 

There  was  not,  however,  any  flute  music  at  Ta-ri-mak. 
There  were  classical  songs,  with  a  direful  drum  accompani- 
ment, and  a  wearisome  repetition  of  the  A-ra-rilng,  continuing 
all  day  and  late  into  the  hot  night. 

A  few  pedlars  passed  by,  selling  tobacco,  necessaries,  and 
children's  toys,  the  latter  rudely  made,  and  only  attractive  in 
a  country  in  which  artistic  feeling  appears  dead.  There  are 
shops  in  Seoul,  Phyong-yang,  and  other  cities  devoted  to  the 
sale  of  such  toys,  painted  in  staring  colors,  and  illustrative 
chiefly  of  adult  life.  There  are  also  monkeys,  puppies,  and 
tigers  on  wheels,  all  for  boys,  and  soldiers  in  European  uni- 
forms have  appeared  during  the  recent  military  craze,  and 
boys  are  very  early  taught  to  look  forward  to  official  life  by 
representations  of  mandarins'  chairs,  red-tasselled  umbrellas, 
and  fringed  hats.  Girls  being  of  comparatively  small  account, 
toys  specially  suited  to  them  are  not  many. 

Japanese  lucifer  matches,  which,  when  of  the  cheap  sort, 
seem  only  slightly  inflammable,  as  I  have  several  times  used  a 
whole  box  without  igniting  one,  were  in  the  stock  of  the  ped- 
lars, and  are  making  rapid  headway  in  the  towns,  but  even  so 
near  Won-san  as  Ta-ri-mak  is,  the  people  were  still  using  flint 
and  steel  to  light  chips  of  wood  dipped  in  sulphur,  though  the 
cheap  and  smoky  kerosene  lamp  has  displaced  the  tall,  upright 
candlestick  and  the  old-fashioned  dish  lamps  there  and  in  very 
many  other  country  places. 

>  I  asked  the  spotted  butterfly 
To  take  me  on  his  wing  and  fly 
To  yonder  mountain's  breezy  side. 
The  trixy  tiger  moth  I'll  ride 
As  home  I  come. 


Along  the  Coast  169 

From  the  high  road  from  Seoul  to  Won-san  we  diverged  at 
Nam-San  to  visit  the  large  monastery  of  Sok-wang  Sa,  famous 
as  being  the  place  where,  in  the  palmy  days  of  Korean 
Buddhism,  Atai-jo,  the  first  king  of  the  present  dynasty,  was 
educated  and  lived.  The  monastery  itself,  with  its  temples, 
was  erected  by  this  king  to  mark  the  spot  where,  504  years 
ago,  he  received  that  supernatural  message  to  rule  in  virtue  of 
which  his  descendant  occupies  the  Korean  throne  to-day.  In 
this  singularly  beautiful  spot  Atai-jo's  early  years  were  spent 
in  religious  exercises,  study,  and  preparation,  and  many  of 
the  superb  trees  which  adorn  the  grand  mountain  clefts  in 
which  Sok-wang  Sa  is  situated  are  said  to  have  been  planted 
by  his  hands.  His  regalia  and  robes  of  state  are  preserved  in 
a  building  by  themselves,  which  no  one  is  allowed  to  enter 
except  the  duly  appointed  attendant.  A  bridle  track  along- 
side of  a  clear  mountain  stream  leads  through  very  pretty  and 
prosperous-looking  country,  and  over  wooded  foothills  for 
some  miles  to  the  base  of  a  fine  mountain  range.  We  passed 
for  a  length  of  time  through  rich  and  heavily-timbered  monas- 
tic property,  then  the  beautiful  valley  narrowed,  and  by  a 
*'  Red  Arrow  Gate  "  we  entered  on  a  smooth  broad  road,  on 
which  the  sun  glinted  here  and  there  through  the  heavy  foliage 
of  an  avenue  of  noble  pines,  a  gap  now  and  then  giving  en- 
trancing glimpses  of  the  deep  delicious  blue  of  the  summer 
sky,  of  a  grand  gorge  dark  with  pines,  firs,  and  the  exotic 
Cleyera  Japoiiica  and  zelkawa,  brightened  by  the  tender 
green  of  maples  and  other  deciduous  trees,  and  by  flashes 
of  foam  from  a  torrent  booming  among  great  moss-covered 
boulders. 

Then  came  bridges  with  decorative  roofs,  abbots'  tomb- 
stones under  carved  and  painted  canopies,  inscribed  stone 
tablets,  glorious  views  of  a  peaked,  forest-clothed  mountain 
barring  the  gorge,  and  as  the  pines  of  the  avenue  fell  into 
groups  at  its  close,  and  magnificent  zelkawas,  from  whose 
spreading  branches  white  roses  hung  in  graceful  festoons,  over- 


lyo  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

arched  the  road,  a  long  irregular  line  of  temples  and  monastic 
buildings  appeared,  clinging  in  singular  picturesqueness  to  the 
sides  of  the  ravine,  which  there  ascends  somewhat  rapidly 
towards  the  mountain,  which  closes  it. 

An  abbot,  framed  in  the  doorway  of  a  quaint  building,  and 
looking  like  a  picture  of  a  portly,  jolly,  mediaeval  friar,  wel- 
comed us,  and  he  and  his  monks  regaled  us  with  honey  water  in 
the  large  guest- hall,  but  simultaneously  produced  a  visitors'  book 
and  asked  us  how  much  we  were  going  to  pay,  the  sum  being 
duly  recorded.  The  grasping  ways  of  these  monks,  who  fleeced 
the  mapu  so  badly  as  to  make  them  say  they  ''  had  fallen 
among  thieves,"  contrast  with  the  friendly  hospitality  of  their 
brethren  of  the  Diamond  Mountain,  and  can  only  be  accounted 
for  by  the  contaminating  influences  of  a  treaty  port,  from 
which  they  are  distant  only  a  long  day's  journey ! 

**  See  the  sights  first  and  then  pay,"  they  said,  the  glorious 
views  and  the  quaint  picturesqueness  of  the  monastic  buildings 
clustering  on  the  crags  above  the  cataracts  being  the  sight  par 
excellence.  It  was  refreshing  to  turn  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  sensual,  acquisitive,  greedy  faces  of  most  of  the  monks 
to  Nature  at  her  freshest  and  fairest,  on  one  of  the  loveliest 
days  of  early  June. 

The  interiors  of  the  temples  are  shabby  and  dirty,  the  paint 
is  scaling  off  the  roofs,  and  the  floors  and  even  the  altars  were 
hidden  under  layers  of  herbs  drying  for  kitchen  use.  Besides 
the  tablet  to  the  first  king  of  the  present  dynasty  in  a  hand- 
some tablet-house,  the  noteworthy  ''sight"  to  be  seen  is  a 
small  temple  dedicated  to  the  "Five  Hundred  Disciples." 
Sok-wang  Sa  is  not  a  holy  place,  and  the  artist  who  carica- 
tured the  devout  and  ascetic  followers  of  the  ascetic  Sakymuni 
has  bequeathed  a  legacy  of  unhallowed  suggestion  to  its  in- 
mates ! 

The  "Five  Hundred  "  are  stone  images  not  a  foot  in  height, 
arranged  round  the  dusty  temple  in  several  tiers,  each  one 
with  a  silk  cap  on,  worn  with  more  or  less  of  a  jaunty  air  on 


Along  the  Coast  171 

one  side  of  the  head  or  falling  over  the  brow.  The  variety  of 
features  and  expression  is  wonderful ;  all  Eastern  nationalities 
are  represented,  and  there  are  not  two  faces  or  attitudes 
alike.  The  whole  display  shows  genius,  though  not  of  a  high 
order. 

Among  the  infinite  variety,  one  figure  has  deeply  set  eyes, 
an  aquiline  nose,  and  thin  lips;  another  a  pug  nose,  squinting 
eyes,  and  abroad  grinning  mouth;  one  is  Mongolian,  another 
Caucasian,  and  another  approximates  to  the  Negro  type.  Here 
is  a  stout,  jolly  fellow,  with  a  leer  and  a  broad  grin  suggestive 
of  casks  of  porter  and  the  archaic  London  drayman  ;  there  is 
an  idiot  with  drooping  head,  receding  brow  and  chin,  and  a 
vacant  stare  ;  here  again  is  a  dark  stage  villain,  with  red 
cheeks  and  a  cap  drawn  low  over  his  forehead ;  then  Mr. 
Pecksniff  confronts  one  with  an  air  of  sanctimoniousness  obvi- 
ously difficult  to  retain  ;  Falstaff  outdoes  his  legendary  jollity ; 
and  priests  and  monks  of  all  nations  leer  at  the  beholders 
from  under  their  jaunty  caps.  It  is  an  exhibition  of  unsancti- 
fied  genius.  Nearly  all  the  figures  look  worse  for  drink,  and 
fatuous  smiles,  drunken  leers,  and  farcical  grins  are  the  rule, 
the  effect  of  all  being  aggravated  by  the  varied  and  absurd 
arrangements  of  the  caps.  The  grotesqueness  is  indescribable, 
and  altogether  '' unedifying." 

It  was  a  great  change  to  get  on  the  broad  main  road  to 
Won-san,  and  to  see  telegraph  poles  once  more.  There  was 
plenty  of  goods  and  passenger  traffic  across  the  fine  plain 
covered  with  rice  and  grain,  margined  by  bluffs,  and  dotted 
with  what  have  obviously  once  been  islands,  near  which  Won- 
san  is  situated. 

Where  the  road  is  broad,  a  high  heap  of  hardened  mud 
runs  along  the  centre,  with  hardened  mud  corrugations  on 
either  side ;  where  narrow,  it  is  merely  the  top  of  a  rice  dyke. 
The  bridges  are  specially  infamous ;  in  fact,  they  were  so  rot- 
ten that  the  mapu  would  not  trust  their  ponies  upon  them,  and 
we   forded   all  the   streams.     Yet   this  road,  which  I  found 


172  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

equally  bad  at  the  three  points  at  which  I  touched  it,  is  one  of 
the  leading  thoroughfares  by  which  goods  pass  from  the  east  to 
the  west  coast  and  vice  versa, — tobacco,  copper,  salt  fish,  sea- 
weed, galena,  and  hides  from  the  east,  and  foreign  shirtings, 
watches,  and  miscellaneous  native  and  foreign  articles  from  the 
west. 

The  heat  of  the  sun  was  but  poorly  indicated  by  a  shade 
temperature  of  84°,  and  it  was  in  his  full  noontide  fierceness 
that  we  reached  the  huddle  of  foul  and  narrow  alleys  and  ir- 
regular rows  of  thatched  shops  along  the  high  road  which 
make  up  the  busy  and  growing  Korean  town  of  Won-san, 
which,  with  an  estimated  population  of  15,000  people,  lies 
along  a  strip  of  beach  below  a  pine-clothed  bluff  and  ranges 
of  mountains,  then  green  to  their  summits,  but  which  I  saw  in 
December  of  the  same  year  in  the  majesty  of  the  snow  which 
covers  them  from  November  to  May.  The  smells  were  fearful, 
the  dirt  abominable,  and  the  quantity  of  wretched  dogs  and  of 
pieces  of  bleeding  meat  blackening  in  the  sun  perfectly  sicken- 
ing. This  aspect  of  meat,  produced  by  the  mode  of  killing 
it,  has  made  foreigners  entirely  dependent  on  the  Japanese 
butchers  in  Seoul  and  elsewhere.  The  Koreans  cut  the  throat 
of  the  animal  and  insert  a  peg  in  the  opening.  Then  the 
butcher  takes  a  hatchet  and  beats  the  animal  on  the  rump  until 
it  dies.  The  process  takes  about  an  hour,  and  the  beast  suffers 
agonies  of  terror  and  pain  before  it  loses  consciousness.  Very 
little  blood  is  lost  during  the  operation  ;  the  beef  is  full  of  it, 
and  its  heavier  weight  in  consequence  is  to  the  advantage  of 
the  vendor. 

Then  came  a  level  stretch  of  about  a  mile,  much  planted 
with  potatoes,  glimpses  of  American  Protestant  mission-houses 
in  conspicuous  and  eligible  positions  (eligible,  that  is,  for 
everything  but  mission  work),  and  the  uneven  Korean  road 
glided  imperceptibly  into  a  broad  gravel  road,  fringed  on  both 
sides  with  neat  wooden  houses  standing  in  gardens,  which 
gradually  thickened  into  the  neatest,  trimmest,  and  most  at- 


Along  the  Coast  173 

tractive  town  in  all  Korea,  the  Japanese  settlement  of  the 
treaty  port  of  Won-san,  opened  to  Japanese  trade  in  1880  and 
to  foreign  trade  generally  in  1883. 

Broad  and  well-kept  streets,  neat  wharves,  trim  and  fairly 
substantial  houses,  showing  the  interior  dollishness  and  dainti- 
ness characteristic  of  Japan,  a  large  and  very  prominent 
Japanese  Consulate  in  Anglo-Japanese  style,  the  offices  of  the 
*'  N.Y.K.,"  the  Japan  Mail  Steamship  Company  (an  abbrevia- 
tion as  familiar  to  residents  in  the  Far  East  as  "P.  &  O."),  a 
Japanese  Bank  of  solid  reputation,  Customs'  buildings,  of 
which  a  neat  reading-room  forms  a  part,  neat  Japanese  shops 
where  European  articles  can  be  bought  at  moderate  prices,  a 
large  schoolhouse,  with  a  teacher  in  European  dress,  and 
active  manikins  and  hobbling  but  graceful  women,  neither 
veiled  nor  muffled  up,  are  the  features  of  this  pleasant  Jap- 
anese colony,  which  is  so  fortunate  as  to  have  no  history,  its 
progress,  though  not  rapid,  having  been  placid  and  peaceful, 
not  marred  by  friction  either  with  Koreans  or  foreigners  of 
other  nationalities ;  and  even  the  recent  war,  though  it  led  to 
the  removal  of  the  Chinese  consul  and  his  countrymen,  an  in- 
significant fraction  of  the  population,  had  left  no  special 
traces,  except  that  the  enormous  wages  paid  to  transport  coolies 
by  the  Japanese  had  enabled  them  to  gamble  with  yen  instead 
of  cash  ! 

I  was  most  hospitably  received  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gale  of  the 
American  Presbyterian  Mission.  Mr.  Gale's  work  was  the  im- 
portant one  of  the  preparation  of  a  dictionary  of  the  Korean 
language  in  Korean,  Chinese,  and  English,  which  was  pub- 
lished in  1897. 

During  the  twelve  days  which  I  spent  at  Won-san  I  made  a 
junk  excursion  in  Yung-hing  or  Broughton  Bay,  in  the  south- 
west corner  of  which  the  port  is  situated.  It  is  a  superb  bay, 
with  an  area  of  fully  40  square  miles,  a  depth  of  from  6  to  12 
fathoms,  with  good  holding  ground,  never  freezes  in  winter, 
is  sheltered  by  promontories  and  mountains  from  the  winds  of 


174  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

every  quarter,  and  its  entrance  is  protected  by  islands.  To 
English  readers  it  is  probable  that  the  sole  interest  of  this  fine 
bay  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  northern  arm,  Port  Lazareff,  which 
was  the  object  of  my  cruise,  is  the  harbor  which  Russia  is 
credited  with  desiring  to  gain  possession  of  for  the  terminus 
of  her  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  Whether  this  be  so  or  no,  or 
whether  Port  Shestakoff,  on  the  same  coast,  but  60  miles 
farther  north,  is  more  defensible  and  better  adapted  for  a 
naval  as  well  as  a  terminal  port,  the  time  has  gone  by  for 
grudging  to  Russia  an  outlet  on  the  Pacific,  and  I  for  one 
should  prefer  it  on  the  coast  of  eastern  Korea  than  on  the 
northern  shore  of  the  Yellow  Sea. 

The  head  of  Port  Lazareff  is  about  16  miles  from  Won-san, 
and  is  formed  by  the  swampy  outlets  of  the  river  Dun-gan, 
among  the  many  branches  of  which  lie  inhabited,  low-lying 
islands.  There  are  rude  but  extensive  salt  works  at  the  shal- 
lows in  which  this  noble  inlet  terminates,  after  receiving 
several  streams  besides  the  Dun-gan.  Port  Lazareff  has,  in 
addition,  abundant  supplies  of  water  from  natural  springs. 
The  high  hills  which  surround  the  bay  are  grassy  to  their  sum- 
mits, but  there  is  very  little  wood,  and  the  villages  are  small 
and  far  between.  Game  is  singularly  abundant.  Pheasants 
are  nearly  as  plentiful  as  sparrows  are  with  us,  the  wary 
turkey  bustard  abounds,  there  are  snipe  in  the  late  summer, 
and  pigeons,  plover,  and  water-hen  are  common.  In  spring 
and  autumn  wild  fowl  innumerable  crowd  the  waters  of  every 
stream  and  inlet,  swans,  teal,  geese,  and  ducks  darkening  the 
air,  which  they  rend  with  their  clamor  as  the  sportsman  in- 
vades their  haunts. 

A  Korean  junk  does  not  impress  one  by  its  seaworthiness, 
and  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  junkmen  hug  the  shore  and 
seek  shelter  whenever  a  good  sailing  breeze  comes  on.  She  is 
built  without  nails,  iron,  or  preservative  paint,  and  looks 
rather  like  a  temporary  and  fortuitous  aggregation  of  beams 
and  planks  than  a  deliberate  construction.     Two  tall,  heavy 


Along  the  Coast  ly^ 

masts  fixed  by  wedges  among  the  timbers  at  the  bottom  of  the 
boat  require  frequent  attention,  as  they  are  always  swaying  and 
threatening  to  come  down.  The  sails  are  of  matting,  with  a 
number  of  bamboos  running  transversely,  with  a  cord  attached 
to  each,  united  into  one  sheet,  by  means  of  which  tacking  is 
effected,  or  rather  might  be.  Practically,  navigation  consists 
in  running  before  a  light  breeze,  and  dropping  the  mass  of 
mats  and  bamboos  on  the  confusion  below  whenever  it  freshens, 
varying  the  process  by  an  easy  pull  at  the  sweeps,  one  at  the 
stern  and  two  working  on  pins  in  transverse  beams  amidships, 
which  project  3  feet  on  each  side.  The  junk  is  fitted  with  a 
rudder  of  enormous  size,  which  from  its  position  acts  as  a  keel 
board.  The  price  is  from  60  to  80  dollars.  This  singular 
craft  sails  well  before  the  wind,  but  under  other  circumstances 
is  apt  to  become  unmanageable. 

Won-san  has  telegraphic  communication  with  Seoul,  and 
chiefly  through  the  enterprise  of  the  N.Y.K.,  it  is  connected 
by  most  comfortable  steamers  with  Korean  ports  and  with 
Wladivostok,  Kobe,  and  Nagasaki,  Hong-Kong,  Shanghai, 
Chefoo,  Newchwang,  and  Tientsin.  Steamers  of  a  Russian 
line  call  there  at  intervals  during  the  summer  season.  There 
are  no  Western  merchants  or  Western  residents  except  the  mis- 
sionaries and  the  Customs  staff,  and  foreign  trade  is  chiefly  in 
the  hands  of  the  Japanese. 

About  60  //  from  Won-san  are  some  large  grass-covered 
mounds,  of  which  the  Koreans  do  not  care  to  speak,  as  they 
regard  them  as  associated  with  an  ancient  Korean  custom,  now 
looked  upon  as  barbarous.  During  the  last  dynasty,  and  more 
than  five  centuries  ago,  it  was  customary,  when  people  from 
age  and  infirmity  became  burdensome  to  their  relations,  to  in- 
carcerate them  in  the  stone  cells  which  these  mounds  contain, 
with  a  little  food  and  water,  and  leave  them  there  to  die.  In 
similar  mounds,  elsewhere  in  Korea,  bowls  and  jars  of  coarse 
pottery  have  been  found,  as  well  as  a  few  specimens  of  gray 


176 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


There  is  nothing  sensational  about  Won-san.'-  It  has  no 
"  booms"  in  trade  or  land,  but  "  keeps  the  even  tenor  of  its 
way."  It  is  to  me  far  the  most  attractive  of  the  treaty  ports. 
Its  trim  Japanese  settlement,  from  which  green  hills  rise 
abruptly,  backed  by  fine  mountain  forms,  dignified  by  snow 
for  seven  months  of  the  year,  and  above  all,  the  exquisite 
caves  to  the  northwest,  where  the  sea  murmurs  in  cool  grottos, 
and  beats  the  pure  white  sand  into  ripples  at  the  feet  of  cliffs 
hidden  by  flowers,  ferns,  and  grass,  and  its  air  of  dreamy  re- 
pose— ''a  land  where  it  is  always  afternoon" — point  to  its 
future  as  that  of  a  salubrious  and  popular  sanitarium. 


In  January  of  1897,  ^1"^^  population  of  Won-san  was  as  follows:- 


Japanese 

.     1,299 

French 

2 

Chinese 

39 

Russian 

2 

American 

8 

Danish 

I 

German          . 

3 

Norwegian  . 

I 

British 

2 

i»357 


Estimated  Korean  population,  15,000. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

IMPENDING   WAR — EXCITEMENT   AT   CHEMULPO 

HAVING  heard  nothing  at  all  of  public  events  during  my 
long  inland  journey,  and  only  a  few  rumors  of  unlocal- 
ized  collisions  between  the  Tong-haks  (rebels)  and  the  Royal 
troops,  the  atmosphere  of  canards  at  Won-san  was  somewhat 
stimulating,  though  I  had  already  been  long  enough  in  Korea 
not  to  attach  much  importance  to  the  stories  with  which  the 
air  was  thick.  One  day  it  was  said  that  the  Tong-haks  had 
gained  great  successes  and  had  taken  Gatling  guns  from  the 
Royal  army,  another  that  they  had  been  crushed  and  their 
mysterious  and  ubiquitous  leader  beheaded,  while  the  latest 
rumor  before  my  departure  was  that  they  were  marching  in 
great  force  on  Fusan.  Judging  from  the  proclamation  which 
they  circulated,  and  which,  while  stating  that  they  rose  against 
corrupt  officials  and  traitorous  advisers,  professed  unswerving 
loyalty  to  the  throne,  it  seemed  credible  that,  if  there  were  a 
throb  of  patriotism  anywhere  in  Korea,  it  was  in  the  breasts 
of  these  peasants.  Their  risings  appeared  to  be  free  from  ex- 
cesses and  useless  bloodshed,  and  they  confined  themselves  to 
the  attempt  to  carry  out  their  programme  of  reform.  Some 
foreign  sympathy  was  bestowed  upon  them,  because  it  was 
thought  that  the  iniquities  of  misrule  could  go  no  further,  and 
that  the  time  was  ripe  for  an  armed  protest  on  a  larger  scale 
than  the  ordinary  peasant  risings  against  intolerable  exactions. 
But  at  the  very  moment  when  these  matters  were  being  dis- 
cussed in  Won-san  with  not  more  than  a  languid  interest,  a 
formidable  menace  to  the  established  order  of  things  was  tak- 
ing shape,  destined  in  a  few  days  to  cast  the  Tong-haks  into 

177 


lyS  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  shade,  and  concentrate  the  attention  of  the  world  on  this 
insignificant  peninsula. 

Leaving  Won-san  by  steamer  on  17th  June,  and  arriving  at 
Fusan  on  the  19th,  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  a  Japanese  gun- 
boat in  the  harbor,  and  that  220  Japanese  soldiers  had  been 
landed  from  the  Higo  Maru  that  morning  and  were  quartered 
in  the  Buddhist  temples  on  the  hill,  and  that  the  rebels  had 
cut  the  telegraph  wires  between  Fusan  and  Seoul. 

Among  the  few  Europeans  at  Fusan  there  was  no  uneasiness. 
The  Japanese,  with  their  large  mercantile  colony  there,  have 
considerable  interests  to  safeguard,  and  nothing  seemed  more 
natural  than  the  course  they  took.  A  rumor  that  Japanese 
troops  had  been  landed  at  Chemulpo  was  quite  disregarded. 

On  arriving  at  Chemulpo,  however,  early  on  the  morning  of 
the  2ist,  a  very  exciting  state  of  matters  revealed  itself.  A 
large  fleet,  six  Japanese  ships  of  war,  the  American  flag  ship, 
two  French,  one  Russian,  and  two  Chinese,  were  lying  in  the 
outer  harbor.  The  limited  accommodation  of  the  inner  har- 
bor was  taxed  to  its  utmost  capacity.  Japanese  transports  were 
landing  troops,  horses,  and  war  material  in  steam  launches, 
junks  were  discharging  rice  and  other  stores  for  the  commis- 
sariat department,  coolies  were  stacking  it  on  the  beach,  and 
the  movement  by  sea  and  land  was  ceaseless.  Visitors  from 
the  shore,  excited  and  agitated,  brought  a  budget  of  astound- 
ing rumors,  but  confessed  to  being  mainly  in  the  dark. 

On  landing,  I  found  the  deadly  dull  port  transformed  :  the 
streets  resounded  to  the  tread  of  Japanese  troops  in  heavy 
marching  order,  trains  of  mat  and  forage  carts  blocked  the 
road.  Every  house  in  the  main  street  of  the  Japanese  settle- 
ment was  turned  into  a  barrack  and  crowded  with  troops, 
rifles  and  accoutrements  gleamed  in  the  balconies,  crowds  of 
Koreans,  limp  and  dazed,  lounged  in  the  streets  or  sat  on  the 
knolls,  gazing  vacantly  at  the  transformation  of  their  port  into 
a  foreign  camp.  Only  two  hours  had  passed  since  the  first  of 
the  troops  landed,  and  when  I  visited  the  camp  with  a  young 


Impending  War  lyg 

Russian  officer  there  were  1,200  men  under  canvas  in  well- 
ventilated  bell  tents,  holding  20  each,  with  matted  floors  and 
drainage  trenches,  and  dinner  was  being  served  in  lacquer 
boxes.  Stables  had  been  run  up,  and  the  cavalry  and  mountain 
guns  were  in  the  centre.  The  horses  of  the  mountain  battery- 
train,  serviceable  animals,  fourteen  hands  high,  were  in  ex- 
cellent condition,  and  were  equipped  with  pack  saddles  of  the 
latest  Indian  pattern.  They  were  removing  shot  and  shell  for 
Seoul  from  the  Japanese  Consulate  with  200  men  and  100 
horses,  and  it  was  done  almost  soundlessly.  The  camp,  with 
its  neat  streets,  was  orderly,  trim,  and  quiet.  In  the  town 
sentries  challenged  passers-by.  Every  man  looked  as  if  he 
knew  his  duty  and  meant  to  do  it.  There  was  no  swagger. 
The  manikins,  well  armed  and  serviceably  dressed,  were 
obviously  in  Korea  for  a  purpose  which  they  meant  to  ac- 
complish. 

What  that  purpose  was,  was  well  concealed  under  color 
of  giving  efficient  protection  to  Japanese  subjects  in  Korea, 
who  were  said  to  be  imperilled  by  the  successes  of  the  Tong- 
haks. 

The  rebellion  in  southern  Korea  was  exciting  much  alarm  in 
the  capital.  Such  movements,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  are 
annual  spring  events  in  the  peninsula,  when  in  one  or  other 
of  the  provinces  the  peasantry,  driven  to  exasperation  by 
official  extortions,  rise,  and,  with  more  or  less  violence  (oc- 
casionally, fatal),  drive  out  the  off'ending  mandarin.  Punish- 
ment rarely  ensues.  The  King  sends  a  new  official,  who 
squeezes  and  extorts  in  his  turn  with  more  or  less  vigor,  until, 
if  he  also  passes  bearable  limits,  he  is  forcibly  expelled,  and 
things  settle  down  once  more.  This  Tong-hak  (*' Oriental  " 
or  ''National")  movement,  though  lost  sight  of  in  presence 
of  more  important  issues,  was  of  greater  moment,  as  being 
organized  on  a  broader  basis,  so  as  to  include  a  great  number 
of  adherents  in  Seoul  and  the  other  cities,  and  with  such 
definite  and  reasonable  objects  that  at  first  I  was  inclined  to 


l8o  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

call  its  leaders  "  armed  reformers  "  rather  than  '*  rebels."  At 
that  time  there  was  no  question  as  to  the  Royal  authority. 

The  Tong-hak  proclamation  began  by  declaring  in  respect- 
ful language  loyal  allegiance  to  the  King,  and  went  on  to 
state  the  grievances  in  very  moderate  terms.  The  Tong-haks 
asserted,  and  with  undoubted  truth,  that  officials  in  Korea,  for 
their  own  purposes,  closed  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  King  to  all 
news  and  reports  of  the  wrongs  inflicted  on  his  people.  That 
ministers  of  State,  governors,  and  magistrates  were  all  indiffer- 
ent to  the  welfare  of  their  country,  and  were  bent  only  on 
enriching  themselves,  and  that  there  were  no  checks  on  their 
rapacity.  That  examinations  (the  only  avenues  to  official  life) 
were  nothing  more  than  scenes  of  bribery,  barter,  and  sale, 
and  were  no  longer  tests  of  fitness  for  civil  appointment. 
That  officials  cared  not  for  the  debt  into  which  the  country 
was  fast  sinking.  That  "  they  were  proud,  vainglorious, 
adulterous,  avaricious."  That  many  officials  receiving  ap- 
pointments in  the  country  lived  in  Seoul.  That  "  they  flatter 
and  fawn  in  peace,  and  desert  and  betray  in  times  of  trouble." 

The  necessity  for  reform  was  strongly  urged.  There  were 
no  expressions  of  hostility  to  foreigners,  and  the  manifesto  did 
not  appear  to  take  any  account  of  them.  The  leader,  whose 
individuality  was  never  definitely  ascertained,  was  credited 
with  ubiquity  and  supernatural  powers  by  the  common  people, 
as  well  as  with  the  ability  to  speak  both  Japanese  and  Chinese, 
and  it  was  evident  from  his  measures,  forethought,  the  dispo- 
sition of  his  forces,  and  some  touches  of  Western  strategic 
skill,  that  he  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  modern  art  of 
war.  His  followers,  armed  at  first  with  only  old  swords  and 
halberds,  had  come  to  possess  rifles,  taken  from  the  official 
armories  and  the  defeated  Royal  troops.  For  in  the  midst  of 
the  thousand  wild  rumors  which  were  afloat,  it  appeared  certain 
that  the  King  sent  several  hundred  soldiers  against  the  Tong- 
haks  under  a  general  who,  on  his  way  to  attack  their  camp, 
raised  and  armed  300  levies,  who,  in  the  engagement  which 


Impending  War  181 

followed,  joined  the  "  rebels "  and  turned  upon  the  King's 
troops,  that  300  of  the  latter  were  killed,  and  that  the  general 
was  missing.  This,  following  other  successes,  the  deposition 
of  several  important  officials,  and  the  rumored  march  on  Seoul, 
had  created  great  alarm,  and  the  King  was  supposed  to  be  pre- 
pared for  flight. 

But  the  events  of  the  two  or  three  days  before  I  landed  at 
Chemulpo  threw  the  local  disturbance  into  the  shade,  and  it 
is  only  with  the  object  of  showing  with  what  an  excellent 
pretext  for  interference  the  Tong-haks  had  furnished  the  Jap- 
anese, that  I  recall  this  petty  chapter  of  what  is  now  ancient 
history. 

The  questions  vital  to  Korea  and  of  paramount  diplomatic 
importance  were,  "  What  is  the  object  of  Japan?  Is  this  an 
invasion?  Is  she  here  as  an  enemy  or  a  friend?"  Six  thou- 
sand troops  provisioned  for  three  months  had  been  landed. 
Fifteen  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaishd' s  steamers  had  been  with- 
drawn from  their  routes  to  act  as  transports,  the  Japanese  had 
occupied  the  Gap,  a  pass  on  the  Seoul  road,  and  Ma-pu,  the 
river  port  of  the  capital,  and  with  guns,  and  in  considerable 
force,  had  established  themselves  on  Nam  Han,  a  wooded 
hill  above  Seoul,  from  which  position  they  commanded  both 
the  palace  and  capital.  All  these  movements  were  carried  out 
with  a  suddenness,  celerity,  and  freedom  from  hitch  which  in 
their  military  aspects  were  worthy  of  the  highest  praise. 

To  any  student  of  Far  Eastern  politics  it  must  have  been  ap- 
parent that  this  skilful  and  extraordinary  move  on  the  part  of 
Japan  was  not  made  for  the  protection  of  her  colonies  in 
Chemulpo  and  Seoul,  nor  yet  against  Korea.  It  has  been  said 
in  various  quarters,  and  believed,  that  the  Japanese  ministry 
was  shaky,  and  had  to  choose  between  its  own  downfall  and  a 
foreign  war.  This  is  a  complete  sophism.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  Japan  had  been  planning  such  a  movement  for 
years.  She  had  made  accurate  maps  of  Korea,  and  had 
secured  reports  of  forage  and  provisions,  measurements  of  the 


i82  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

width  of  rivers  and  the  depth  of  fords,  and  had  been  buying 
up  rice  in  Korea  for  three  months  previously,  while  even  as  far 
as  the  Tibetan  frontier,  Japanese  officers  in  disguise  had 
gauged  the  strength  and  weakness  of  China,  reporting  on  her 
armies  on  paper  and,  in  fact,  on  her  dummy  guns,  and 
antique,  honeycombed  carronades,  and  knew  better  than  the 
Chinese  themselves  how  many  men  each  province  could  put 
into  the  field,  how  drilled  and  how  armed,  and  they  were 
acquainted  with  the  infinite  corruption  and  dishonesty,  com- 
bined with  a  total  lack  of  patriotism,  which  nullified  even  such 
commissariat  arrangements  as  existed  on  paper,  and  rendered 
it  absolutely  impossible  for  China  to  send  an  army  efficiently 
into  the  field,  far  less  sustain  it  during  a  campaign. 

To  all  appearance  Japan  had  completely  outwitted  China  in 
Korea,  and  a  panic  prevailed  among  the  Chinese.  Thirty 
ladies  of  the  households  of  the  Chinese  Resident  and  Consul 
embarked  for  China  on  the  appearance  of  the  Japanese  in 
Seoul,  and  800  Chinamen  left  Chemulpo  the  day  I  arrived, 
the  consternation  in  the  Chinese  colony  being  so  great  that 
even  the  market  gardeners,  who  have  a  monopoly  of  a  most 
thriving  trade,  fled. 

I  never  before  saw  the  Chinaman  otherwise  than  aggra- 
vatingly  cool,  collected,  and  master  of  the  situation,  but  on 
that  June  day  he  lost  his  head,  and,  frenzied  by  race  hatred 
and  pecuniary  loss,  was  transformed  into  a  shouting  barbarian, 
not  knowing  what  he  would  be  at.  The  Chinese  inn  where  I 
spent  the  day  was  one  centre  of  the  excitement,  and  each  time 
that  I  came  in  from  a  walk  or  received  a  European  visitor,  a 
number  of  the  employeSy  usually  most  quiet  and  reticent,  hud- 
dled into  my  room  with  faces  distorted  by  anxiety,  asking 
what  I  had  heard,  what  was  going  to  be,  whether  the  Chinese 
army  would  be  there  that  night,  whether  the  British  fleet  was 
coming  to  help  them,  etc.,  and  even  my  Chinese  servant,  a 
most  excellent  fellow,  was  beside  himself,  muttering  in  English 
through  clenched  teeth,  "  I  must  kill,  kill,  kill !  " 


Impending  War  183 

Meanwhile  the  dwarf  battalions,  a  miracle  of  rigid  disci- 
pline and  good  behavior,  were  steadily  tramping  to  Seoul, 
where  matters  then  and  for  some  time  afterwards  stood  thus. 
The  King  was  in  his  secluded  palace,  and  that  which  still 
posed  as  a  Government  had  really  collapsed.  Mr.  Hillier, 
the  English  Consul-General,  was  in  England  on  leave,  and  the 
acting  Consul-General,  Mr.  Gardner,  C.M.G.,  had  only  been 
in  Korea  for  three  months.  The  American  Minister  was  a 
newer  man  still.  The  French  and  German  Consuls  need 
hardly  be  taken  into  account,  as  they  had  few,  if  any,  inter- 
ests to  safeguard.  Mr.  Waeber,  the  able  and  cautious  diplo- 
matist who  had  represented  Russia  for  nine  years,  and  had 
the  confidence  of  the  whole  foreign  community,  had  been  ap- 
pointed cha7'ge  d'affaires  at  Peking,  and  had  left  Seoul  in  the 
previous  week.  There  remained,  therefore,  facing  each  other, 
Otori  San,  the  Japanese  ambassador  to  Peking,  who  was  in 
Korea  on  a  temporary  mission,  and  Yuan,  a  military  mandarin 
who  had  been  for  some  years  Chinese  Resident  in  Seoul,  a  man 
entrusted  by  the  Chinese  Emperor  with  large  powers,  who  was 
credited  by  foreigners  with  great  force,  tact,  and  ability, 
and  who  was  generally  regarded  as  "  the  power  behind  the 
throne." 

I  had  frequently  seen  Otori  San  in  the  early  months  of  the 
year,  a  Japanese  of  average  height,  speaking  English  well, 
wearing  European  dress  as  though  born  to  it,  and  sporting 
white  "  shoulder-of-mutton  "  whiskers.  He  lounged  in  draw- 
ing-rooms, making  trivial  remarks  to  ladies,  and  was  remark- 
able only  for  his  insignificance.  I  believe  he  made  the  same 
impression,  or  want  of  impression,  at  Peking.  But  circum- 
stances or  stringent  orders  from  Tokyo  had  transformed  Mr. 
Otori.  Whether  he  had  worn  a  mask  previously  I  know  not, 
but  he  showed  himself  rough,  vigorous,  capable,  a  man  of 
action,  unscrupulous,  and  not  only  clever  enough  to  outwit 
Yuan  in  a  difficult  and  hazardous  game,  but  everybody  else. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  memorable  day  at  Chemulpo  the 


184  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Vice-Consul  called  on  me  and  warned  me  that  I  must  leave 
Korea  that  night,  and  the  urgency  and  seriousness  of  his 
manner  left  me  no  doubt  that  he  was  acting  on  information 
which  he  was  not  at  liberty  to  divulge.  I  had  left  my  travel- 
ling gear  at  Won  san  in  readiness  for  an  autumn  journey,  and 
was  going  to  Seoul  that  night  for  a  week  to  get  my  money 
and  civilized  luggage  before  going  for  the  summer  to  Japan. 
It  was  a  serious  blow.  Other  Europeans  advised  me  not  to 
be  '*  deported,"  but  it  is  one  of  my  travelling  rules  never  to 
be  a  source  of  embarrassment  to  British  officials,  and  sup- 
posing the  crisis  to  be  an  acute  one,  I  reluctantly  yielded, 
and  that  night,  with  two  English  fellow-sufferers,  left  Che- 
mulpo in  the  Japanese  steamer  Higo  Maru,  bound  for  ports 
in  the  Gulf  of  Pechili,  which  cid-de-sac  would  have  proved 
a  veritable  "lion's  mouth"  to  her  had  hostilities  been  as 
imminent  as  the  Vice-Consul  believed  them  to  be.  I  had 
nothing  but  the  clothing  I  wore,  a  heavy  tweed  suit,  and  the 
mercury  was  80°,  and  after  paying  my  passage  to  Chefoo,  the 
first  port  of  call,  I  had  only  four  cents  left.  It  was  four  months 
before  I  obtained  either  my  clothes  or  my  money  ! 


CHAPTER  XIV 

DEPORTED    TO    MANCHURIA 

THOUGH  I  landed  at  Chefoo  in  heavy  tweed  clothing,  I 
was  obliged  to  walk  up  the  steep  hill  to  the  British  Con- 
sulate, though  the  mercury  was  84°  in  the  shade,  because  I 
had  no  money  with  which  to  pay  for  2^  jitiriksJia  /  My  reflec- 
tions were  anything  but  pleasant.  My  passport  and  letters  of 
introduction,  both  private  and  official,  were  in  Seoul,  my  travel- 
ling dress  was  distinctly  shabby,  and  I  feared  that  an  impecu- 
nious person  without  introductions,  and  unable  to  prove  her 
identity,  might  meet  with  a  very  cool  reception.  I  experi- 
enced something  of  the  anxiety  and  timidity  which  are  the 
everyday  lot  of  thousands,  and  I  have  felt  a  far  tenderer  sym- 
pathy with  the  penniless,  specially  the  educated  penniless,  ever 
since.  I  was  so  extremely  uncomfortable  that  I  hung  about 
the  gate  of  the  British  Consulate  for  some  minutes  before  I 
could  summon  up  courage  to  go  to  the  door  and  send  in  a  torn 
address  of  a  letter  which  was  my  only  visiting  card  !  I  thought, 
but  it  may  have  been  fancy,  that  the  Chinese  who  took  it  eyed 
me  suspiciously  and  contemptuously. 

The  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  which  followed  I  cannot 
easily  forget.  Mr.  Clement  Allen,  our  justly  popular  Consul, 
met  me  with  a  warm  welcome.  I  needed  no  proof  of  identity 
or  anything  else,  he  only  desired  to  know  what  he  could  do 
for  me.  My  anxiety  was  not  quite  over,  for  I  had  to  make 
the  humiliating  confession  that  I  needed  money,  and  immedi- 
ately he  took  me  to  Messrs.  Ferguson  and  Co.,  who  transact 
banking  business,  and  asked  them  to  let  me  have  as  much  as  I 
wanted.     An  invitation  to  tiffin  followed,  and  Lady  O' Conor, 

185 


i86  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  the  wife  of  the  Spanish  minister  at  Peking,  who  were  stay- 
ing at  the  Consulate,  made  up  a  bundle  of  summer  clothing  for 
me,  and  my  ''deportation"  enriched  me  with  valued  friend- 
ships. 

Returning  in  a  very  different  frame  of  mind  to  the  Higo 
Maruj  I  went  on  in  her  in  severe  heat  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Peiho  River  in  sight  of  the  Taku  forts,  and  after  rolling  on  its 
muddy  surges  for  two  days,  proceeded  to  Newchwang  in  Man- 
churia, reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Liau  River  in  five  days  from 
Chemulpo.  Rain  was  falling,  and  a  more  hideous  and  disas- 
trous-looking country  than  the  voyage  of  two  hours  up  to  the 
port  revealed,  I  never  saw.  The  Liau,  which  has  a  tremen- 
dous tide  and  strong  current,  and  is  thick  with  yellow  mud,  is 
at  high  water  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  adjacent  flats,  of  which 
one  sees  little,  except  some  mud  forts  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
river,  which  are  said  to  be  heavily  armed  with  Krupp  guns, 
and  an  expanse  of  mud  and  reeds. 

Of  the  mud-built  Chinese  city  of  Ying-tzu  (Military  Camp), 
known  as  Newchwang,  though  the  real  Newchwang  is  a  dere- 
lict port  30  miles  up  the  Liau,  nothing  can  be  seen  above  the 
mud  bank  but  the  curved,  tiled  roofs  of  yamens  and  tem- 
ples, though  it  is  a  city  of  60,000  souls,  the  growth  of  its 
population  having  kept  pace  with  its  rapid  advance  in  com- 
mercial importance  since  it  was  opened  to  foreign  trade  in 
i860.  'Several  British  steamers  with  big  Chinese  characters 
on  their  sides  were  at  anchor  in  the  tideway,  and  the  river 
sides  were  closely  fringed  with  up-river  boats  and  sea-going 
junks,  of  various  picturesque  builds  and  colors,  from  Southern 
China,  steamers  and  junks  alike  waiting  not  only  for  cargoes 
of  the  small  beans  for  which  Manchuria  is  famous,  but  for  the 
pressed  bean  cake  which  is  exported  in  enormous  quantities  to 
fertilize  the  sugar  plantations  and  hungry  fields  of  South  China. 

There  is  a  Bund,  and  along  and  behind  it  is  the  foreign 
settlement,  occupied  by  about  forty  F.uropeans.  The  white 
buildings  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  the  houses 


Deported  to  Manchuria  187 

of  the  staff,  the  hongs  of  two  or  three  foreign  merchants,  and 
the  British  Consular  buildings,  may  be  said  to  constitute  the 
settlement.  It  has  the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  kindliest 
and  friendliest  in  the  Far  East,  and  the  fact  that  the  river  closes 
annually  about  the  20th  of  November  for  about  four  months, 
and  that  the  residents  are  thrown  entirely  on  their  own  re- 
sources and  on  each  other,  only  serves  to  increase  that  inter- 
dependence which  binds  this  and  similarly  isolated  communi- 
ties so  strongly  together. 

I  was  most  kindly  welcomed  at  the  English  Consulate  then 
and  on  my  return,  and  have  most  pleasant  remembrances  of 
Newchvvang,  its  cordial  kindness,  and  cheerful  Bund,  and  breezy 
blue  skies,  but  at  first  sight  it  is  a  dreary,  solitary-looking  place 
of  mud,  and  muddy  waters  for  ever  swallowing  large  slices  of 
the  land,  and  threatening  to  engulf  it  altogether. 

"  Peas,"  really  beans, ^  are  its  chief  raison  d'etre,  and  their 
ups  and  downs  in  price  its  mild  sensations.  "Pea-boats," 
long  and  narrow,  with  matting  roofs  and  one  huge  sail,  bring 
down  the  beans  from  the  interior,  and  mills  working  night 
and  day  express  their  oil,  which  is  as  good  for  cooking  as  for 
burning. 

The  viceroyalty  of  Manchuria,  in  which  I  spent  the  next  two 
months,  is  interesting  as  in  some  ways  distinct  from  China,  be- 
sides having  a  prospective  interest  in  connection  with  Russia. 
Lying  outside  of  the  Great  Wall,  it  has  a  population  of  several 
distinct  and  mixed  races,  Manchus  (Tartars),  Gilyaks,  Tung- 
usi,  Solons,  Daurs,  and  Chinese.  Along  with  these  must  be 
mentioned  about  30,000  Korean  families,  the  majority  of  whom 
have  left  Korea  since  1868,  in  consequence  of  political  disturb- 
ance and  official  exactions.^ 

The  facts  that  the  dynasty  which  has  ruled  China  by  right 
of  conquest  since  1644  is  a  Manchu  dynasty,  and  that  it  im- 

1  Glycene  hispides  (Dr.  Morrison). 

2  According  to  information  obtained  by  the  Russian  Diplomatic  Mission 
in  Peking, 


i88  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

posed  the  shaven  forehead  and  the  pigtail  on  all  Chinese  men 
successfully,  while  it  absolutely  failed  to  prevent  the  women 
from  crippling  their  feet,  though  up  to  this  day  no  woman 
with  "Golden  Lilies"  (crushed  feet)  is  allowed  to  enter  the 
Imperial  palace,  naturally  turn  attention  to  this  viceroyalty, 
which,  in  point  of  its  area  of  380,000  square  miles,  is  larger 
than  Austria  and  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  put  together,  while 
its  population  is  estimated  at  from  18,000,000  to  20,000,000 
only.  Thus  it  offers  a  vast  field  for  emigration  from  the  con- 
gested provinces  of  Northern  China,  and  Chinese  immigrants 
are  steadily  flocking  in  from  Shan-tung,  Chi-li,  and  Shen-si, 
so  that  Southern  Manchuria  at  this  time  is  little  behind  the 
inner  provinces  of  China  in  density  of  population. 

It  is  different  in  the  northern  province,  where  a  cold  climate 
and  vast  stretches  of  forest  render  agriculture  more  difficult. 
If  it  had  not  been  for  the  war  and  its  attendant  complications, 
I  had  purposed  to  travel  through  it  from  Northern  Korea. 
But  it  is  unsettled  at  all  times.  The  majority  of  its  immi- 
grants consists  of  convicts,  fugitive  criminals,  soldiers  who 
have  left  the  colors,  and  gold  and  ginseng  hunters.  There  is 
something  almost  comical  about  some  of  the  doings  of  this 
unpromising  community. 

It  comprises  large  organized  bands  of  mounted  brigands, 
well  led  and  armed,  who  do  not  hesitate  to  come  into  collision 
with  the  Imperial  troops,  frequently  coming  off  victors,  and 
at  times,  as  when  I  was  in  Mudken,  wresting  forts  from  their 
hands.  During  the  Taiping  rebellion,  when  the  Chinese 
troops  were  withdrawn  from  Manchuria,  these  bands  carried 
havoc  and  terror  everywhere,  and  seizing  upon  towns  and 
villages,  ruled  them  by  right  of  conquest !  ^  In  recent  years 
the  Government  has  decided  to  let  voluntary  colonists  settle 
in  the  northern  provinces,  and  has  even  furnished  them  with 
material  assistance. 

Still,  things  are  bad,  and  the  brigands  have  come  to  be  re- 

»  Information  received  by  the  Russian  Diplomatic  Mission  in  Peking. 


Deported  to  Manchuria  189 

garded  as  a  necessary  evil,  and  are  "arranged  with."  They 
are  not  scrupulous  as  to  human  life,  and  when  they  catch  a 
rich  merchant  from  the  south,  they  send  an  envoy  to  his  guild 
with  a  claim  for  ransom,  strengthened  by  the  threat  that  if  it 
is  not  forthcoming  in  so  many  days,  the  captive's  head  will 
be  cut  off.  Winter,  when  the  mud  is  frozen  hard,  is  the  only 
time  for  the  transit  of  goods  by  land,  and  long  trains  of  mule 
carts  may  then  be  seen,  a  hundred  or  more  together,  starting 
from  Newchwang,  Mukden,  and  other  southern  cities,  each 
carrying  a  small  flag,  which  denotes  that  a  suitable  blackmail 
has  been  paid  to  an  agent  of  the  brigand  chiefs,  and  that  they 
will  not  be  robbed  on  the  journey  !  Later,  when  I  was  on 
the  Siberian  frontier  of  Manchuria,  the  brigands  were  in  great 
force,  and  having  been  joined  by  half-starved  deserters  from 
the  Chinese  army,  were  harrying  the  country,  and  the  peasants 
were  flying  in  terror  from  their  farms. 

Among  the  curious  features  of  Manchurian  brigandage,  is 
that  its  virulence  rises  or  falls  with  good  or  bad  harvests,  inun- 
dations, etc.  For  many  of  the  usually  respectable  peasant 
farmers,  in  times  of  floods  and  scanty  crops,  join  the  robber 
bands,  returning  to  their  honest  avocations  the  next  season  ! 

In  spite,  however,  of  this  terrorism  in  the  northeast,  Man- 
churia is  one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  the  Chinese  viceroy- 
alties,  and  its  foreign  trade  is  assuming  annually  increasing 
importance.^ 

I   was  disappointed  to  find  that  the  Manchus  (or  Tartars) 

1  Taking  the  port  of  Newchwang,  through  which,  with  certain  excep- 
tions, all  exports  of  native  produce  and  imports  of  foreign  merchandise  and 
Chinese  productions  pass,  in  1871  16  steamers  and  203  sailing  vessels 
entered  the  port,  with  a  total  tonnage  of  65,933  tons;  in  1881,  114 
steamers  and  218  sailing  vessels,  with  a  tonnage  of  159,098  tons;  and  in 
1891,  372  steamers  and  61  sailing  vessels,  with  a  total  tonnage  of  334,709 
tons.  In  the  same  period,  British  tonnage  had  increased  from  38.6  of  the 
whole  to  58  per  cent,  of  the  whole.  In  187 1  German  tonnage  nearly 
equalled  British,  being  37,6  of  the  whole,  but  it  had  declined  in  1891  to 
28  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 


190  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

differ  little  in  appearance  from  the  race  which  they  have  sub- 
dued. The  women,  however,  are  taller,  comlier,  and  more 
robust  in  appearance,  as  may  be  expected  from  their  retaining 
the  natural  size  and  shape  of  their  feet,  and  not  only  their 
coiffure  but  their  costume  is  different,  the  Manchu  women 
wearing  sleeveless  dresses  from  the  throat  to  the  feet,  over 
under  dresses  with  wide  embroidered  sleeves.  AVith  some  ex- 
ceptions, they  are  less  secluded  than  their  Chinese  sisters,  and 
have  an  air  of  far  greater  freedom. 

Most  of  the  Manchu  customs  have  disappeared  along  with 
the  language,  which  is  only  spoken  in  a  few  remote  valleys, 
and  is  apparently  only  artificially  preserved  because  the  ruling 
dynasty  is  Manchu.  It  is  only  those  students  who  are  aspir- 
ants for  literary  degrees  and  high  office  in  the  viceroyalty  who 
are  obliged  to  learn  it. 

People  of  pure  Manchu  race  are  chiefly  met  with  in  the 
north.  Manchus,  as  kinsmen  of  the  present  Imperial  dynasty, 
enjoy  various  privileges.  Every  male  adult,  as  soon  as  he  can 
string  a  short  and  remarkably  inflexible  bow  (no  easy  task), 
becomes  a  '' Bannerman,"  i.e.  he  is  enrolled  in  one  of  eight 
bodies  of  irregulars,  called  *' Banners"  from  their  distinctive 
flags,  and  from  that  time  receives  one /^/<?/ (now  about  three 
shillings)  per  month,  increased  to  from  five  to  seven  taels  a 
month  when  on  active  service.  These  "Bannermen,"  as  a 
rule,  are  not  specially  reputable  characters.  They  gamble, 
hang  about  yamens  for  odd  bits  of  work,  in  hope  of  permanent 
official  employment,  and  generally  sublet  to  the  Chinese  the 
lands  which  they  receive  from  the  Government. 

It  is  a  singular  anomaly  that  bows  and  arrows  are  relied 
upon  as  a  means  of  defence  in  an  empire  which  buys  rifles  and 
Krupp  guns.  Later,  in  Peking,  which  was  supposed  to  be 
threatened  by  the  Japanese  armies,  it  was  intended  to  post 
Bannermen  with  bows  and  arrows  at  the  embrasures  of  the 
wall,  and  on  the  Peking  and  Tungchow  road  I  met  twenty 
carts  carrying  up  loads  of  these  primitive  weapons  for  the  de- 


Deported  to  Manchuria  191 

fence  of  the  capital  !  Bow  and  arrow  drill  is  one  of  the  most 
amusing  of  the  many  military  mediaeval  sights  of  China. 
The  Chinese  Bannermen  are  descendants  of  those  Chinese 
who,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  espoused  the  cause  of  the 
Manchu  conquerors  of  China.  The  whole  military  force  of 
the  three  provinces  of  the  viceroyalty  is  280,000  men.  Tartar 
garrisons  and  "  Tartar  cities"  exist  in  many  of  the  great  pro- 
vincial cities  of  China,  and  as  the  interests  of  these  troops  are 
closely  bound  up  with  those  of  the  present  Tartar  dynasty, 
their  faithfulness  is  relied  upon  as  the  backbone  of  Imperial 
security. 

From  its  history  and  its  audacious  and  permanent  conquest 
of  its  gigantic  neighbor,  its  mixed  population  and  numerous 
aboriginal  tribes,  its  mineral  and  agricultural  wealth,  and  a 
certain  freedom  and  breeziness  which  constitute  a  distinctive 
feature,  Manchuria  is  a  very  interesting  viceroyalty,  and  the 
two  months  which  I  spent  in  it  gave  it  a  strong  hold  upon  me. 
Mud  is  a  great  feature  of  Newchwang,  perhaps  the  leading 
feature  for  some  months  of  the  year,  during  wliich  no  traffic 
by  road  is  possible,  and  the  Bund  is  the  only  practicable  walk. 
The  night  I  arrived  rain  began,  and  continued  with  one  hour's 
cessation  for  five  days  and  nights,  for  much  of  the  time  com- 
ing down  like  a  continuous  thundershower.  The  atmosphere 
was  steamy  and  hazy,  and  the  mercury  by  day  and  night  was 
pretty  stationary  at  78°.  About  8.46  inches  of  rain  fell  on 
those  days.  The  barometer  varied  from  29°  to  29.3°.  After- 
wards, when  the  rain  ceased  for  a  day,  the  heat  was  nearly 
unbearable.  Of  course,  no  boat's  crew  would  start  under  such 
circumstances.  Rumors  of  an  extensive  inundation  came 
down  the  river,  but  these  and  all  others  of  purely  local  interest 
gave  place  to  an  intense  anxiety  as  to  whether  war  would  be 
declared,  and  what  the  effect  of  war  would  be  on  the  great 
trading  port  of  Newchwang. 


CHAPTER  XV 

A    MANCHURIAN     DELUGE — A    PASSENGER     CART — AN    ACCIDENT 

IT  surprised  me  much  to  find  that  only  one  foreign  resident 
had  visited  Mukden,  which  is  only  120  miles  distant  by  a 
road  which  is  traversable  in  winter,  and  is  accessible  by  river 
during  the  summer  and  autumn  in  from  eight  to  ten  days.  I 
left  Newchwang  on  the  3rd  of  July,  and  though  various  cir- 
cumstances were  unpropitious,  reached  Mukden  in  eight  days, 
being  able  to  avoid  many  of  the  windings  of  the  Liau  by  sail- 
ing over  an  inundation. 

The  kindly  foreign  community  lent  me  necessaries  for  the 
journey,  but  even  with  these  the  hold  of  a  ''pea-boat"  was 
not  luxurious.  My  camp-bed  took  up  the  greater  part  of  it, 
and  the  roof  was  not  much  above  my  head.  The  descent  into 
the  hold  and  the  ascent  were  difficult,  and  when  wind  and 
rain  obliged  me  to  close  the  front,  it  was  quite  dark,  cock- 
roaches swarmed,  and  the  smell  of  the  bilge  water  was  horri- 
ble. I  was  very  far  from  well  when  I  started,  and  in  two  days 
was  really  ill,  yet  I  would  not  have  missed  the  special  interest 
of  that  journey  for  anything,  or  its  solitude,  for  Wong's  lim- 
ited English  counted  for  nothing  and  involved  no  conversa- 
tional effort. 

For  some  distance  above  Newchwang  or  Ying-tzu,  as  far  as 
the  real  Newchwang,  there  is  a  complication  of  muddy  rivers 
hurrying  through  vast  reed  beds,  the  resort  of  wild  fowl,  with 
here  and  there  a  mud  bank  with  a  mud  hovel  or  two  upon  it. 
At  that  time  reed  beds  and  partially  inundated  swamps 
stretched  away  nearly  to  the  horizon,  which  is  limited  in  the 
far  distance  by  the  wavy  blue  outline  of  some  low  hills. 

192 


A  Manchurian  Deluge  193 

We  ran  up  the  river  till  the  evening  of  the  second  day  be- 
fore a  fair  wind,  and  then  were  becalmed  on  a  reedy  expanse 
swarming  with  mosquitos.  The  mercury  was  at  89°  in  the 
hold  that  night.  I  had  severe  fever,  with  racking  pains  in  my 
head,  back,  and  limbs,  and  in  the  morning  the  stamping  of 
the  junkmen  to  and  fro,  along  the  narrow  strip  of  deck  out- 
side the  roof,  was  hardly  bearable.  Wong  had  used  up  the 
ample  supply  of  water,  and  there  was  nothing  wherewith  to 
quench  thirst  but  the  brown,  thick  water  of  the  Liau,  the  tea 
made  with  which  resembled  peasoup. 

On  the  morning  of  the  third  day  it  began  to  rain  and  blow, 
and  for  the  next  awful  four  days  the  wind  and  rain  never 
ceased.  The  oiled  paper  which  had  been  tacked  over  the  roof 
of  the  boat  was  torn  into  strips  by  the  violence  of  the  winds, 
which  forced  the  rain  through  every  chink.  I  lay  down  that 
night  with  the  mercury  at  80°,  woke  feeling  very  cold,  but, 
though  surprised,  fell  asleep  again.  Woke  again  much  colder, 
feeling  as  if  my  feet  were  bandaged  together,  extricated  myself 
with  difficulty,  struck  a  light,  and  got  up  into  6  inches  of  a 
mixture  of  bilge  water  and  rain  water,  with  an  overpowering 
stench,  in  or  on  which  all  things  were  sunk  or  floating.  Won- 
dered again  at  being  so  very  cold,  found  the  temperature  at 
84°,  and  that  I  had  been  sleeping  under  a  wringing  sheet  in 
soaked  clothing  and  on  soaked  sacking,  under  a  soaked  mos- 
quito net,  and  that  there  was  not  a  dry  article  in  the  hold. 
For  the  next  three  days  and  nights  things  remained  in  the 
same  condition,  and  though  I  was  really  ill  I  had  to  live  in 
wet  clothing  and  drink  the  '*  liquid  cholera  "  of  the  flood,  all 
the  wells  being  submerged. 

Telegrams  later  in  the  English  papers  announced '' Great 
floods  in  Manchuria,"  but  of  the  magnitude  of  the  inundation 
which  destroyed  for  that  season  the  magnificent  crops  of  the 
great  fertile  plain  of  the  Liau,  and  swept  away  many  of  its 
countless  farming  villages,  only  the  experience  of  sailing  over 
it  could  give  any  idea. 


194  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

In  that  miserable  night  there  were  barkings  of  dogs,  shouts 
of  men,  mewings  of  cats,  and  general  noises  of  unrest,  and  in 
the  morning,  of  the  village  of  Piengdo  opposite  to  which  we 
had  moored  the  evening  before,  only  one  house  and  a  barn  re- 
mained, which  were  shortly  carried  away.  Many  of  the  peo- 
ple had  escaped  in  boats,  and  the  remainder,  with  their  fowls, 
dogs,  and  cats,  were  in  the  spreading  branches  of  a  large  tree. 
Although  the  mast  of  my  boat  was  considerably  in  the  way, 
and  it  was  difficult  to  make  fast,  I  succeeded  in  rescuing  the 
whole  menagerie  and  in  transferring  it  in  two  trips  to  a  village 
on  the  other  side,  which  was  then  5  feet  above  the  water. 

We  had  reached  the  most  prosperous  region  of  Manchuria, 
a  plain  60  miles  in  length,  of  deep,  rich  alluvial  soil,  bearing 
splendid  crops,  the  most  lucrative  of  which  are  the  bean,  the 
oil  from  which  is  the  staple  export  of  the  country,  the  opium 
poppy,  and  tobacco.  The  great  and  small  millet,  wheat,  bar- 
ley, melons,  and  cucumbers  cover  the  ground,  mulberry  trees 
for  the  silkworm  surround  the  farmhouses,  and  the  great  plain 
is  an  idyll  of  bounteousness  and  fertility.  Of  all  this  not  a 
trace  remained,  except  in  a  few  instances  the  tops  of  the  8-feet 
millet,  which  supplies  the  people  not  only  with  food,  but  with 
fuel,  and  fodder  for  their  animals„ 

The  river  bank  burst  during  the  night,  and  the  waters  were 
raging  into  the  plain,  from  which  I  missed  many  a  brown- 
roofed  village,  which  the  evening  before  stood  among  its  wil- 
low and  poplar  trees.  At  11  a  fair  wind  sprang  up,  junks  be- 
gan to  move,  and  my  boatmen,  who  had  talked  of  returning, 
untied  and  moved  too.  After  an  exciting  scene  at  a  bend, 
where  the  river,  leaping  like  a  rapid,  thumped  the  junks 
against  the  opposite  shore,  we  passed  one  wrecked  village  after 
another,  bits  of  walls  of  houses  alone  standing.  The  people 
and  their  fowls  were  in  the  trees.  The  women  clung  to  their 
fowls  as  much  as  to  their  babies.  Dugouts,  scows,  and  a  few 
junks,  mine  among  them,  were  busy  saving  life,  and  we  took 
three  families  and  their  fowls  to  Sho-wa  Ku,  a  large  junk  port. 


A  Manchurian  Deluge  195 

where  a  number  of  houses  were  still  standing.  These  families 
had  lost  all  their  household  goods  and  gods,  as  well  as  mules, 
pigs,  and  dogs.  On  our  way  we  sailed  into  a  farmyard  to  try 
to  get  some  eggs,  and  the  junk  not  replying  to  her  helm, 
thumped  one  of  the  undermined  walls  down.  It  was  a  large 
farmhouse  and  full  of  refugees.  The  water  was  3  feet  deep  in 
the  rooms,  naked  children  were  floating  about  in  tubs,  and 
the  women,  looking  resigned,  sat  on  the  tables.  The  men 
said  that  it  was  the  last  of  four  houses,  and  that  they  might 
as  well  be  dead,  for  they  had  lost  all  their  crops  and  their 
beasts. 

A  fearful  sight  presented  itself  at  Sho-wa  Ku.  There  the 
river,  indefinite  as  it  had  previously  been,  disappeared  alto- 
gether, and  the  whole  country  was  a  turbulent  muddy  sea, 
bounded  on  the  east  by  a  range  of  hills,  and  to  the  north  and 
south  limitless.  Under  it  lay  all  the  fruits  of  the  tireless  in- 
dustry and  garden  cultivation  of  a  large  and  prosperous  popu- 
lation, and  the  remorseless  waters  under  the  influence  of  a  gale 
were  rolling  in  muddy  surges,  ''crested  with  tawny  foam," 
over  the  fast  dissolving  homes. 

On  this  vast  flood  we  embarked  to  shorten  the  distance,  and 
sailed  with  three  reefs  in  the  sail  for  13  miles  over  it,  till  we 
were  brought  up  by  an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  the  shape 
of  a  tremendous  rush  of  water  where  a  bank  had  given  way. 
There  we  were  compelled  to  let  go  two  anchors  in  the  early 
afternoon.  The  wind  had  become  foul,  and  the  rain,  which 
fell  in  torrents,  was  driven  almost  horizontally.  Nothing  that 
suggested  human  life  was  in  sight.  It  might  have  been  "  the 
Deluge,"  for  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened.  There  were 
a  muddy,  rolling  sea,  and  a  black  sky,  dark  with  tremendous 
rain,  and  the  foliage  of  trees  with  submerged  trunks  was  alone 
suggestive  of  even  vegetable  life  and  of  the  villages  which  had 
been  destroyed  by  the  devouring  waters. 

In  13  miles  just  one  habitation  remained  standing,  a  large, 
handsome  brick  house  with  entrance  arch,  quadrangle,  curved 


196  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

roofs,  large  farm  buildings,  and  many  servants'  houses,  some 
of  which  were  toppling,  and  others  were  submerged  up  to 
their  roofs.  There  was  a  lookout  on  the  principal  roof  and  he 
hailed  us,  but  as  there  were  several  scows  about,  enough  to 
save  life,  I  disregarded  him,  and  we  sailed  on  into  the 
tempestuous  solitude  where  we  anchored. 

The  day  darkened  slowly  into  night,  the  junk  rolled  with 
short  plunging  rolls,  the  rain  fell  more  tremendously  than 
ever,  and  the  strong  wind,  sweeping  through  the  rigging  with 
a  desolate  screech,  only  just  overpowered  the  clatter  on  the 
roof.  I  was  ill.  The  seas  we  shipped  drowned  the  charcoal, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  make  tea  or  arrowroot.  The  rain 
dripped  everywhere  through  the  roof.  My  lamp  spluttered 
and  went  out  and  could  not  be  relighted,  bedding  and  cloth- 
ing were  soaked,  my  bed  stood  in  the  water,  the  noise  was 
deafening. 

Never  in  all  my  journeys  have  I  felt  so  solitary.  I  real- 
ized that  no  other  foreigner  was  travelling  in  Manchuria,  that 
there  was  no  help  in  illness,  and  that  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  but  lie  there  in  saturated  clothes  till  things  took  a  turn 
for  the  better. 

And  so  they  did.  By  eight  the  next  morning  the  scene  was 
changed.  The  sky  was  blue  and  cloudless,  there  was  a  cool 
north  wind,  and  the  waste  of  water  dimpled  and  glittered,  the 
broken  sparkle  of  its  mimic  waves  suggesting  the  ocean  after  a 
destructive  storm  has  become  a  calm.  After  sailing  over 
broad  blue  water  all  day,  and  passing  "  islands  "  on  which  the 
luckier  villages  were  still  standing,  towards  evening  we  sailed 
into  a  village  of  large  farmhouses  and  made  fast  to  the  window- 
bars  of  one  of  them,  which,  being  of  brick,  had  not  suffered 
greatly.  Eleven  of  the  farms  had  disappeared,  and  others 
were  in  process  of  disappearing.  The  gardens,  farmyards, 
and  open  spaces  were  under  5  feet  of  water,  the  surface  of 
which  was  covered  by  a  bubbly  scum.  The  horses  and  cattle 
were  in  the  rooms  of  the  brick  houses  where  many  human  be- 


A  Manchurlan  Deluge  197 

ings  had  taken  refuge.  A  raft  made  of  farming  implements 
ferried  the  people  among  the  few  remaining  dwellings. 

At  that  farm  the  skipper  brought  a  quantity  of  rice  for  his 
family,  and  by  a  lovely  moonlight  we  sailed  over  the  drowned 
country  to  his  village.  The  flood  currents  were  strong,  and 
when  we  got  there  we  were  driven  against  two  undermined 
houses  and  knocked  them  down,  afterwards  drifting  into  a  road 
with  fine  trees  which  entangled  the  mast  and  sail,  and  our 
stern  bumped  down  the  wall  of  the  road,  and  the  current  car- 
ried us  into  a  square  of  semi-submerged  houses,  and  eventu- 
ally we  got  into  the  skipper's  garden,  and  saw  his  family 
mounted  on  tables  and  chairs  on  the  top  of  the  ka7ig. 

Two  uneventful  days  followed.  The  boatmen  were  in  cease- 
less dread  of  pirates,  and  I  was  so  ill  that  I  felt  I  would  rather 
die  than  make  another  effort. 

Arriving  within  3  miles  of  Mukden,  Wong  engaged  a  pas- 
senger cart,  a  conveyance  of  the  roughest  description,  which 
is  only  rendered  tolerable  by  having  its  back,  sides,  and  bot- 
tom padded  with  mattresses,  and  I  was  destitute  of  everything  ! 
Nothing  can  exaggerate  the  horrors  of  an  unameliorated 
Chinese  cart  on  an  infamous  road.  Down  into  ruts  2  feet 
deep,  out  of  whicli  three  fine  mules  could  scarcely  extricate 
us,  over  hillocks  and  big  gnarled  roots  of  trees,  through 
quagmires  and  banked  ditches,  where,  in  dread  of  the  awful 
jerk  produced  by  the  mules  making  a  non-simultaneous  jump 
up  the  farther  side,  I  said  to  myself,  **  This  is  my  last  hour," 
getting  a  blow  on  my  head  which  made  me  see  a  shower  of 
sparks — so  I  entered  the  gate  of  the  outer  wall  of  beaten 
clay  ii^^  miles  in  circuit  which  surrounds  the  second  city  of 
the  empire.  Then,  through  a  quagmire  out  of  which  we  were 
dragged  by  seven  mules,  I  bruised,  breatliless,  and  in  great 
pain,  and  up  a  bank  where  the  cart  turned  over,  pulled  the 
mules  over  with  it,  and  rolled  down  a  slight  declivity,  I  found 
myself  in  the  roof  with  the  cameras  on  the  top  of  me  and  my 
right  arm  twisted  under  me,  a  Chinese  crowd  curious  to  see  the 


198 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


*'  foreign  devil,"  a  vague  impress  of  disaster  in  my  somewhat 
dazed  brain,  and  Wong  raging  at  large  !  Then  followed  a 
shady  compound  ablaze  with  flowers,  a  hearty  welcome  at  the 
house  of  Dr.  Ross,  the  senior  missionary  of  the  Scotch  U.P. 
Church,  sweet  homelike  rooms  in  a  metamorphosed  Chinese 
house,  a  large  shady  bedroom  replete  with  comforts,  the  im- 
mediate arrival  of  Dr.  Christie,  the  medical  missionary,  who 
pronounced  my  arm-bone  **  splintered "  and  the  tendons 
severely  torn,  and  placed  the  limb  in  splints,  and  a  time  of 
kind  and  skilled  nursing  by  Mrs.  Ross,  and  of  dreamy  restful- 
ness,  in  which  the  horrors  of  the  hold  of  the  "  pea-boat "  and 
of  the  dark  and  wind-driven  flood  only  served  to  emphasize 
the  comfort  and  propitiousness  of  my  surroundings. 


PASSENGER  CART,   MUKDEN. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

MUKDEN   AND    ITS    MISSIONS 

MUKDEN  Stands  at  an  altitude  of  t6o  feet  above  the 
sea,  in  Lat.  41°  51'  N.  and  Long.  123°  37^  E.,  in  the 
centre  of  an  immense  alluvial  plain,  bearing  superb  crops  and 
liberally  sprinkled  with  farming  villages  embowered  in  wood, 
a  wavy  line  of  low  blue  hills  at  a  great  distance  limiting  the 
horizon.  It  is  3  miles  from  the  Hun-ho,  a  tributary  of  the 
Liau,  and  within  its  outer  wall  idles  along  the  silvery  Siao-ho 
or  "  small  river,"  with  a  long  Bund  affording  a  delightful 
promenade  and  an  airy  position  for  a  number  of  handsome 
houses,  the  residences  of  missionaries  and  mandarins,  with 
stately  outer  and  inner  gates,  through  which  glimpses  are  ob- 
tained of  gardens  and  flowering  plants  and  pots.  This  city  of 
260,000  inhabitants,  owing  to  its  connection  with  the  reigning 
dynasty,  is  the  second  city  officially  in  the  empire,  and  the 
Peking  "boards"  with  one  exception  are  nominally  dupli- 
cated there.  Hence  it  not  only  has  an  army  of  Chinese  and 
Tartar  officials  of  all  grades,  but  a  large  resident  population  of 
retired  and  expectant  mandarins,  living  in  handsome  houses 
and  making  a  great  display  in  the  streets.  There  is  an  in- 
cessant movement  of  mule  carts,  the  cabs  of  Mukden,  with 
their  superb  animals  and  their  blue  canopies  covering  both 
mule  and  driver,  official  mule  carts  driven  at  a  trot,  with  four 
or  more  outriders  with  white  hats  and  red  plumes,  private 
carts  belonging  to  young  mandarin  swells,  who  give  daily  en- 
tertainments at  a  restaurant  on  the  Bund,  mandarins  on  horse- 
back with  runners  clearing  the  way,  carts  waiting  for  "lotus 
viewers,"  tall,  "big-footed"  women  promenading  with  their 

199 


2oO  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

children,  their  hair  arranged  in  loops  on  silver  frames  and 
decorated  with  flowers,  hospital  patients  on  stretchers  and  in 
chairs,  men  selling  melons  and  candies,  and  beggars  who  by- 
blowing  through  a  leaf  imitate  the  cry  of  nearly  every  bird. 
Then  in  the  summer  evenings,  when  the  mercury  has  fallen  to 
80°,  the  servants  of  rich  men  bring  out  splendid  ponies  and 
mules  and  walk  them  on  the  Bund,  and  there  come  the  crowds 
to  stare  at  the  foreigners  and  hang  round  their  gates.  The 
presence  of  well-dressed  women  is  a  feature  rare  in  the  East. 
Up  to  the  war  people  were  polite  and  friendly,  but  progress  was 
difficult  and  the  smell  of  garlic  strong.  At  night  the  dogs  bark, 
guns  are  fired,  drums  and  gongs  are  beaten,  and  the  clappers 
of  the  watchmen  rival  each  other  in  making  night  hideous. 

All  this  life  lies  between  the  outer  wall  and  the  lofty  quad- 
rangular inner  wall,  3  miles  in  circuit,  built  of  brick,  flanked 
by  lofty  towers,  and  pierced  by  eight  gates  protected  by  lofty 
brick  bastions.  This  wall,  on  which  three  carriages  could 
drive  abreast,  protects  the  commercial  and  official  part  of  the 
city,  which  is  densely  crowded,  Mukden,  besides  being  a  great 
grain  emporium,  being  the  centre  of  the  Chinese  fur  trade, 
which  attracts  buyers  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Fine  streets, 
though  full  of  humps  and  quagmires,  divide  the  city  into  nine 
wards  or  quarters,  the  central  quarter  being  Imperial  property, 
and  containing  a  fine  palace  with  much  decorative  yellow 
tiling,  the  examination  hall,  and  a  number  of  palaces  and 
yamenSy  all  solidly  built.  To  my  thinking  no  Chinese  city  is 
so  agreeable  as  Mukden.  The  Tartar  capital  is  free  from  that 
atmosphere  of  decay  which  broods  over  Peking.  Its  wide 
streets  are  comparatively  clean.  It  is  regularly  built,  and  its 
flne  residences  are  well  kept  up.  It  is  a  busy  place,  and  does 
a  large  and  lucrative  trade,  specially  in  grain,  beans,  and  furs. 
It  has  various  industries,  which  include  the  tanning  and  dress- 
ing of  furs  and  the  weaving  of  silk  stuff's;  its  bankers  and 
merchants  are  rich,  and  it  has  great  commercial  as  well  as 
some  political  importance. 


W 
Q 

D 

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O 

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O 
O 

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1 


■^ 


Mukden  and  its  Missions  201 

As  the  old  capital  of  Manchuria  and  the  abode  of  the  Prince 
ancestors  of  the  family  which  was  placed  on  the  Chinese  throne 
in  1644,  it  has  special  privileges,  among  which  are  "  Ministres 
de  Parade,"  nominally  holding  the  same  rank  as  the  actual 
ministers  in  Peking.  Near  it  are  the  superb  tombs  of  the  an- 
cestors of  the  present  Emperor,  on  which  grand  avenues  of 
trees  converge,  bordered  by  colossal  stone  animals  after  the 
fashion  of  those  at  the  Ming  tombs  near  Peking.  Formerly 
the  Manchu  Emperors  made  pilgrimages  to  these  tombs  and 
the  sacred  city  of  their  dynasty,  but  since  the  second  decade 
of  this  century  the  Chinese  Emperor's  portrait  only  has  been 
sent  at  intervals  in  solemn  procession,  the  Peking  road  being 
in  the  meantime  closed  to  ordinary  traffic. 

The  Governor-General  of  Manchuria  resides  in  Mukden,  as 
well  as  the  military  Governor,  who  is  assisted  by  a  civil  ad- 
ministrator and  by  the  Presidents  of  five  Boards.  The  great 
offices  of  State  are  filled  in  duplicate  by  Chinese  and  Manchus, 
and  criminals  of  the  two  races  are  tried  in  separate  courts. 

The  favorable  reception  given  to  Christianity  is  one  of  the 
features  of  Mukden.  The  fine  pagoda  of  the  Christian  Church 
is  en  evidence  everywhere.  The  Scotch  U.  P.  missionaries, 
who  have  been  established  there  for  twenty-five  years,  are  on 
friendly  terms  with  the  people,  and  specially  with  many  of 
the  mandarins  and  high  officials,  who  show  them  tokens  of 
regard  publicly  and  privately  on  all  occasions.  Dr.  Christie, 
the  medical  missionary,  is  the  trusted  friend  as  well  as  the 
medical  adviser  of  many  of  the  leading  officials  and  their 
wives,  who,  with  every  circumstance  of  ceremonial  pomp, 
have  presented  complimentary  tablets  to  the  hospital,  and  alto- 
gether the  relations  between  the  Chinese  and  the  missionaries 
are  unique.  I  attribute  these  special  relations  with  the  upper 
classes  partly  to  the  fact  that  Dr.  Ross,  the  senior  missionary, 
and  Dr.  Christie,  and  those  who  have  joined  them  subse- 
quently, have  studied  Chinese  custom  and  etiquette  very 
closely,  and  are  careful  to  conform  to  both  as  far  as  is  possible, 


202  Korea  and  Her  Neiirhbors 


b' 


while  they  are  not  only  keen-sighted  for  the  good  that  is  in 
the  Chinese,  but  bring  the  best  out  of  them. 

Thus  Christianity,  divested  of  the  nonchalant  or  contemp- 
tuous insularity  by  which  it  is  often  rendered  repulsive,  has 
made  considerable  progress  not  only  in  the  capital  but  in  the 
province,  and  until  the  roads  became  unsafe  there  was  scarcely 
a  day  during  my  long  visit  in  which  there  were  not  deputa- 
tions from  distant  villages  asking  for  Christian  workers,  repre- 
senting numerous  bands  of  rural  worshippers,  who,  having 
received  some  knowledge  of  Christianity  from  converts,  col- 
porteurs, or  catechists,  had  renounced  many  idolatrous  prac- 
tices, and  desired  further  instruction.  Of  the  "  professing 
Christians,"  Dr.  Ross  said  that  it  was  only  a  very  small  per- 
centage who  had  heard  the  Gospel  from  Europeans  !  Four 
thousand  were  already  baptized,  and  nearly  as  many  again 
were  *'  inquirers  "  with  a  view  to  baptism.  It  was  most  curious 
to  see  men  coming  daily  from  remote  regions  asking  for  some 
one  to  go  and  instruct  them  in  the  "  Jesus  doctrine,"  for 
"they  had  learned  as  much  as  they  could  without  a  teacher."  In 
many  parts  of  Manchuria  there  are  now  Christian  communities 
carrying  on  their  own  worship  and  discipline,  and  it  is  note- 
worthy tliat  very  many  of  the  converts  are  members  of  those 
Secret  Societies  whose  strongest  bond  of  union  is  the  search 
after  righteousness. 

The  Mission  Hospital  is  one  of  the  largest  and  best  equipped 
in  the  Far  East,  and  besides  doing  a  great  medical  and  surgi- 
cal work,  is  a  medical  school  in  which  students  pass  through  a 
four  years'  curriculum.  There  also  Dr.  Christie  gives  illus- 
trated popular  scientific  lectures  in  the  winter,  which  are  at- 
tended among  others  by  a  number  of  sons  of  mandarins. 
Donations,  both  of  money  and  food,  are  contributed  to  this 
hospital  both  by  officials  and  merchants;  and  General  Tso,  a 
most  charitable  man  and  beloved  by  the  poor,  only  the  night 
before  he  started  for  Korea,  sent  a  bag  of  tickets  for  ice,  so 
that  the  hospital  might  not  suffer  for  the  lack  of  it  during  his 


Mukden  and  its  Missions 


203 


absence.  Only  a  few  months  before  he  presented  it  with  a 
handsome  tablet  and  subscription/ 

Even  in  so  civilized  a  city  as  Mukden,  with  its  schools  and 
literary  examinations,  its  thousands  of  literary  aspirants  to 
official  position,  its  streets  full  of  a  busy  and  splendid  official- 
ism, its  enormous  trade,  its  banks  and  yamens,  its  20,000 
Mussulmans,  with  their  many  mosques,  and  hatred  of  the  pig, 
and  the  slow  interpenetration  of  enlightened  Western  ideas, 
Chinese  superstitions  of  the  usual  order,  well  known  by  every 
reader,  prevail. 

The  system  of  medicine,  though  it  contains  the  knowledge 
and  use  of  some  valuable  native  drugs  among  the  sixty  which 
are  exported,  is  in  many  respects  extremely  barbarous.  The 
doctors  have  no  operative  surgery  and  cannot  even  tie  an 
artery  !  They  use  cupping,  the  cautery,  and  acupuncture  hot 
or  cold,  with  long  coarse  uncleanly  needles,  with  which  they 
pierce  the  liver,  joints,  and  stomach  for  pains,  sprains,  and 
rheumatism.  They  close  all  abscesses,  wounds,  and  ulcers 
with  a  black  impervious  plaster.  Witch  doctors  are  resorted 
to  in  cases  of  hysteria  or  mental  derangement.  Vaccination 
is  now  to  some  extent  adopted  with  calf  or  transferred  lymph, 
the  puncture  being  made  in  the  nostrils.  In  order  to  ascer- 
tain whether  a  sick  person  is  likely  to  live,  they  plunge  long 

1  General  Tso's  cavalry  brigade  was  perhaps  the  best  disciplined  in  the 
Chinese  army,  and  he  was  a  severe  disciplinarian,  but  he  was  also  an 
earnest  philanthropist,  and  though  a  strict  Mussulman,  always  showed 
himself  friendly  to  the  Christian  religion,  specially  in  its  benevolent  as- 
pects. His  soup  kitchens  saved  many  a  family  from  starvation.  He 
established  and  was  the  chief  support  of  a  foundling  hospital.  During 
the  terrible  inundation  of  1888  he  distributed  food  among  the  famishing 
with  his  own  hands.  His  friendly  help  could  always  be  relied  on  by  the 
missionaries,  who  joined  in  the  sorrow  with  which  Manchuria  mourned 
for  his  premature  death  at  Phyong-yang  in  Korea.  The  benevolence  of 
rich  Chinese  ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  The  charities  of  China  are  on 
a  gigantic  scale,  and  many  of  them  are  admirably  administered  by  men 
who  expend  much  self-sacrificing  effort  on  their  administration. 


2o4  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

needles  into  the  body,  and  give  np  the  case  as  hopeless  if  blood 
does  not  flow.  When  death  is  near  the  friends  dress  the  pa- 
tient in  the  best  clothes  they  can  afford  and  remove  him  from 
the  kan:^  (the  usual  elevated  sleeping  place)  to  the  floor,  or  lay 
him  on  aslies.  As  the  spirit  departs  they  cry  loudly  in  the  ear. 
In  connection  with  death,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  some  of 
the  most  striking  shops  in  Mukden,  after  the  coffin  shops,  are 
those  in  which  are  manufactured  and  sold  admirable  lifesize 
representations  of  horses,  men,  asses,  elephants,  carts,  and  all 
the  articles  of  luxury  of  this  life,  which  are  carried  in  procession 
and  are  burned  at  the  grave,  sometimes  to  the  value  of  ^i,ooo. 

Few  children  under  nine  years  old  are  buried,  and  those 
only  among  the  richest  class.  When  death  occurs,  the  mother, 
wailing  bitterly,  wraps  the  body  in  matting,  and  throws  it 
away,  i.e.  she  places  it  where  the  dogs  can  get  at  it.  This 
ghastly  burden  must  not  be  carried  out  of  a  door  or  window, 
but  through  a  new  or  disused  opening,  in  order  that  the  evil 
spirit  which  causes  the  disease  may  not  enter.  The  belief  is 
that  the  Heavenly  Dog  which  eats  the  sun  at  the  time  of  an 
eclipse  demands  the  bodies  of  children,  and  that  if  they 
are  denied  to  him  he  will  bring  certain  calamity  on  the 
household. 

I  have  mentioned  the  kang,  which  is  a  marked  feature  of  the 
houses  and  inns  of  Manchuria,  which  for  its  latitude  has  the 
coldest  winter  in  the  world,  the  mercury  often  reaching  17° 
F.  below  zero.  The  kang  is  a  brick  platform  covered  with 
matting  and  heated  economically  by  flues,  and  is  at  once 
sleeping  and  sitting  place.  The  stalks  of  tlie  Hokiis  Sorghum 
are  used  for  fuel.  In  winter,  when  the  external  temperature 
may  be  a  little  above  and  much  below  zero  for  a  month  at  a 
time,  the  Chinaman,  unable  to  heat  his  whole  room,  drops  his 
shoes,  mounts  his  kang,  sits  crosslegged  on  the  warm  mat, 
covers  his  padded  socks  with  his  padded  robe,  and  there  takes 
his  meals  and  receives  his  friends  in  comfort.  When  I  was 
invited  to  climb  the  Jzang  I  felt  myself  a  persona  grata. 


Mukden  and  its  Missions  205 

The  pawnshops  of  Mukden,  with  their  high  outer  walls, 
lofty  gateways,  two  or  three  well-kept  courts,  fine  buildings, 
and  tall  stone  columns  at  the  outer  gate,  with  the  sign  of  the 
business  upon  them,  their  scrupulous  cleanliness,  and  their 
armies  of  polite,  intelligent  clerks,  are  as  respectable  as  banks 
with  us.  They  demand  for  every  sum  borrowed  movable 
property  to  double  its  amount.  If  the  pledge  be  not  redeemed 
within  two  years,  it  falls  to  the  pawnbroker.  Government 
fixes  the  interest.  The  proprietor  takes  the  same  position  as  a 
capitalist  owning  a  bank  in  the  West,  and  a  samshu  distiller 
takes  an  equal  place  in  local  esteem. 

The  prevalence  of  suicide  is  a  feature  of  Mukden  as  of  most 
Chinese  cities.  Certain  peculiarities  of  Chinese  justice  render 
it  a  favorite  way  of  wreaking  spite  upon  an  employer  or  neigh- 
bor, who  is  haunted  besides  by  the  spirit  of  the  self-murderer. 
Hence  servants  angry  with  their  masters,  shopmen  with  their 
employers,  wives  with  their  husbands,  and  above  all,  daughters- 
in-law  with  their  mothers-in-law,  show  their  spite  by  dying  on 
their  premises,  usually  by  opium,  or  eating  the  tops  of  lucifer 
matches  !  It  is  quite  a  common  thing  for  a  person  who  has  a 
grudge  against  another  to  go  and  poison  himself  in  his  court- 
yard, securing  revenge  first  by  the  mandarin's  inquiry  and 
next  by  the  haunting  terrors  of  his  malevolent  spirit.  Young 
girls  were  daily,  poisoning  themselves  with  lucifer  matches  to 
escape  from  the  tyranny  of  mothers-in-law  and  leave  unpleas- 
antness behind  them. 

But  it  is  not  the  seamy  side  which  is  uppermost  in  Mukden. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

CHINESE  TROOPS  ON  THE  MARCH 

THE  weeks  which  I  spent  in  Mukden  were  full  of  rumors 
and  excitement.  A  few  words  on  the  origin  of  the  war 
with  Japan  may  make  the  situation  intelligible. 

The  Tong-haks,  as  was  mentioned  in  chapter  xiii.,  had  on 
several  occasions  defeated  the  Royal  Korean  troops,  and  after 
much  hesitation  the  Korean  King  invoked  the  help  of  China. 
China  replied  promptly  by  giving  Japan  notice  of  her  inten- 
tion to  send  troops  to  Korea  on  7th  June,  1894,  both  coun- 
tries, under  the  treaty  of  Tientsin,  having  equal  rights  to  do 
so  under  such  circumstances  as  had  then  arisen.  On  the  same 
day  Japan  announced  to  China  a  similar  intention.  The 
Chinese  General,  Yi,  landed  at  A-san  with  3,000  men,  and 
the  Japanese  occupied  Chemulpo  and  Seoul  in  force. 

In  the  Chinese  despatch  Korea  was  twice  referred  to  as  '*  our 
tributary  state."  Japan  replied  that  the  Imperial  Government 
had  never  recognized  Korea  as  a  tributary  state  of  China. 

Then  came  three  proposals  from  Japan  for  the  administra- 
tion of  Korea,  to  be  carried  out  jointly  by  herself  and  China. 
These  were — (i)  Examination  of  the  financial  administration  ; 
(2)  Selection  of  the  central  and  local  officials ;  (3)  The  es- 
tablishment of  a  disciplined  army  for  national  defence  and  the 
preservation  of  the  peace  of  the  land. 

To  these  proposals  China  replied  that  Korea  must  be  left  to 
reform  herself,  and  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  Japanese  troops 
must  precede  any  negotiations,  a  suggestion  rejected  by  Japan, 
wlio  informed  China  on  14th  July,  that  she  should  regard  the 
dispatch  of  any  more  troops  to  Japan  as  a  belligerent  act.     On 

206 


Chinese  Troops  on  the  March  207 

2otb  July  Japan  demanded  that  the  King  of  Korea  should 
order  the  Chinese  troops  to  leave  the  country,  threatening 
"  decisive  measures  "  if  this  course  were  not  adopted. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  request  of  the  King,  the  representatives 
of  the  Treaty  Powers  were  endeavoring  to  maintain  peace, 
suggesting  the  simultaneous  withdrawal  of  the  troops  of  both 
countries.  To  this  China  agreed,  but  Japan  demanded  delay, 
and  on  23rd  July  took  the  ''decisive  measure"  she  had 
threatened,  assaulted  and  captured  the  Palace,  and  practically 
made  the  King  a  prisoner,  his  father,  the  Tai-Won-Kun,  at 
his  request,  but  undoubtedly  at  Japanese  instigation,  taking 
nominally  the  helm  of  affairs. 

After  this  events  marched  with  great  rapidity.  On  25th 
July  the  transport  Kowshing,  flying  the  British  flag  and  carry- 
ing 1,200  Chinese  troops,  was  sunk  with  great  loss  of  life  by 
the  Japanese  cruiser  Nankua,  and  four  days  later  the  Japanese 
won  the  battle  of  A-san  and  dispersed  the  Chinese  army. 
Before  30th  July  Korea  gave  notice  of  the  renunciation  of  the 
Conventions  between  herself  and  China,  which  was  equivalent 
to  renouncing  Chinese  sovereignty.  On  ist  August  war  was 
declared.  Of  the  sequence  of  these  events,  and  even  of  the 
events  themselves,  we  knew  little  or  nothing,  and  up  to  the 
middle  of  July  Mukden  kept  "  the  even  tenor  of  its  way." 

Manchuria  is  far  less  hostile  to  foreigners  than  the  rest  of 
China,  and  the  name  ''devil"  may  even  be  used  as  a  polite 
address  with  the  prefix  of  "honorable  "  !  No  European  women 
had  previously  passed  through  the  gate  of  the  inner  wall  and 
through  the  city  on  foot,  but  I  not  only  was  able  to  do  so  with- 
out molestation,  though  several  times  only  attended  by  my  serv- 
ant, but  actually  was  able  to  photograph  in  the  quieter  streets, 
the  curiosity  of  the  crowd  being  quite  friendly.  The  Scotch 
missionaries  had  then  been  established  in  Mukden  for  twenty- 
two  years,  were  on  very  friendly  terms  with  the  people,  there 
was  much  social  intercourse,  and  altogether  their  relations  with 
the  Chinese  were  unique. 


2o8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Before  the  end  of  July,  however,  the  many  wild  rumors 
which  were  afloat,  and  the  continual  passage  of  troops  on  their 
way  to  Korea  (war  being  a  foregone  conclusion  before  it  was 
declared),  produced  a  general  ferment.  I  had  to  abandon 
peregrinations  in  the  city,  and  also  photography,  a  hostile 
crowd  having  mobbed  me  as  I  was  "  taking  "  the  Gate  of  Vic- 
tory, in  the  belief  that  I  kept  a  black  devil  in  the  camera,  with 
such  a  baleful  Cyclopean  eye  that  whatever  living  thing  it 
looked  on  would  die  within  a  year,  and  any  building  or  wall 
would  crumble  away  ! 

After  war  was  declared  on  ist  August,  1894,  things  grew 
worse  rapidly.  As  Japan  had  full  command  of  the  sea,  all 
Chinese  troops  sent  to  Korea  were  compelled  to  march  through 
Manchuria,  and  undisciplined  hordes  of  Manchu  soldiers  from 
Kirin,  Tsitsihar,  and  othern  northern  cities  poured  through 
Mukden  at  the  rate  of  1,000  a  day,  having  distinguished  them- 
selves on  the  southern  march  by  seizing  on  whatever  they  could 
get  hold  of,  riotously  occupying  inns  without  payment,  beat- 
ing the  innkeepers,  and  wrecking  Christian  chapels,  not  from 
anti-Christian  but  from  anti  foreign  feeling.  Their  hatred  of 
foreigners  culminated  at  Liau-yang,  40  miles  from  Mukden, 
when  Manchu  soldiers,  after  wrecking  the  Christian  chapel, 
beat  Mr.  Wylie,  a  Scotch  missionary,  to  death,  and  attacked 
the  chief  magistrate  for  his  friendliness  to  the  *'  foreign  devils." 

Anti-foreign  feeling  rose  rapidly  in  Mukden.  The  servants 
of  foreigners,  and  even  the  hospital  assistants,  were  insulted 
in  the  town,  and  the  wildest  rumors  concerning  foreigners  were 
spread  and  believed.  The  friendly  authorities,  who  took  the 
safety  of  the  three  mission  families  into  serious  consideration, 
requested  them  to  give  up  their  usual  journeys  into  the  interior, 
and  to  avoid  going  into  the  city  or  outside  the  walls.  Next 
the  "street  chapels"  were  closed,  the  native  Christians,  a  large 
body,  being  very  apprehensive  for  their  own  safety,  being  re- 
garded as  ''  one  with  the  foreigners,"  who,  unfortunately,  were 
generally  supposed  to  be  ''  the  same  as  the  Japanese." 


Chinese  Troops  on  the  March  209 

The  perils  of  the  roads  increased.  Not  a  cart  or  animal  was 
to  be  seen  near  them.  The  great  inns  were  closed  or  had  their 
shutters  wrecked,  and  the  villages  and  farms  were  deserted. 
All  tracks  converging  on  Mukden  were  thronged  with  troops, 
not  marching,  but  straggling  along  anyhow,  every  tenth  man 
carrying  a  great  silk  banner,  but  few  were  armed  with  modern 
weapons.  I  saw  several  regiments  of  fine  physique  without  a 
rifle  among  them  !  In  some,  gingalls  were  carried  by  two  men 
each,  others  were  armed  with  antique  muzzle-loading  muskets, 
very  rusty,  or  with  long  matchlocks,  and  some  carried  only 
spears,  or  bayonets  fixed  on  red  poles.  All  were  equipped  with 
such  umbrellas  and  fans  as  I  saw  some  time  later  in  the  ditches 
of  the  bloody  field  of  Phyong-yang.  It  was  nothing  but  mur- 
der to  send  thousands  of  men  so  armed  to  meet  the  Japanese 
with  their  deadly  Murata  rifles,  and  the  men  knew  it,  for  when 
they  happened  to  see  a  foreigner  they  made  such  remarks  as, 
"  This  is  one  of  the  devils  for  whom  we  are  going  to  be  shot," 
and  when  a  large  party  of  them,  in  attempting  to  make  a  for- 
cible entry  into  the  Governor-General's  palace,  were  threat- 
ened by  the  guard  with  being  shot,  the  reply  was,  ''  We  are 
going  to  be  shot  in  Korea,  we  may  as  well  be  shot  here." 

The  nominal  pay  of  soldiers  is  higher  than  that  of  laborers, 
and  it  was  only  after  the  defeat  and  the  great  slaughter  at  A-san 
that  there  was  any  unwillingness  to  enter  the  ranks.  The  uni- 
form is  easy,  but  unfit  for  hard  wear,  and  very  stagey — a  short, 
loose,  sleeved  red  cloak,  bordered  wnth  black  velvet,  loose 
blue,  black,  or  apricot  trousers,  and  long  boots  of  black  cotton 
cloth  with  thick  soles  of  quilted  rag.  The  discipline  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  some  regiments  of  fine  physique 
straggled  through  Mukden  for  the  seat  of  war  carrying  rusty 
muskets  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  poles  with  perches,  on 
which  singing  birds  were  loosely  tethered  !  The  men  fell  out 
of  the  ranks  as  they  pleased,  to  buy  fruit  or  tobacco  or  to 
speak  to  friends.  Yet  they  made  a  goodly  scenic  display  in 
their  brilliant  coloring,  with  their  countless  long  banners  of 


210  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

crimson  silk  undulating  in  the  breezy  sunshine,  and  their  offi- 
cers with  sable-tailed  hats  and  yellow  jackets  riding  beside 
them. 

Those  who  had  rifles  and  modern  weapons  at  all  had  them 
of  all  makes ;  so  cartridges  of  twenty  different  sorts  and  sizes 
were  huddled  together  without  any  attempt  at  classification, 
and  in  one  open  space  all  sorts  were  heaped  on  the  ground, 
and  the  soldiers  were  fitting  them  to  their  arms,  sometimes 
trying  eight  or  ten  before  finding  one  to  suit  the  weapon,  and 
throwing  them  back  on  the  heap  !  There  were  neither  medi- 
cal arrangements  nor  an  ambulance  corps,  Chinese  custom 
being  to  strip  the  wounded  and  leave  them,  ''wounded  men 
being  of  no  use."  The  commissariat  was  not  only  totally  in- 
efficient but  grossly  dishonest,  and  where  stores  had  accumu- 
lated the  contractors  sold  them  for  their  own  benefit.  Thus 
there  was  little  provision  of  food  or  fodder  in  advance,  and  in 
a  very  short  time  the  soldiers  were  robbing  at  large,  and  eat- 
ing the  horses  and  transport  mules.  The  Chinese  soldiers,  bad 
as  their  drill  and  discipline  are,  are  regarded  by  European  offi- 
cers as  ''excellent  material,"  but  the  Manchus  of  the  North 
(Tartars)  are  a  shambling,  disorderly,  insubordinate  horde, 
dreaded  by  peaceable  citizens,  presuming  on  their  Imperial 
relationship,  and  in  disturbed  times  little  better  than  licensed 
brigands. 

Among  the  first  troops  to  leave  the  city  was  the  Fengtien 
Chinese  brigade  of  cavalry  5,000  strong,  under  General  Tso, 
a  brave  and  experienced  officer,  who  was  at  once  feared  and 
trusted,  so  that  when  he  fell  with  his  face  to  the  foe  at  Phyong- 
yang,  his  loss  demoralized  the  army,  and  the  Japanese  showed 
their  appreciation  of  him  by  erecting  an  obelisk  to  his  mem- 
ory. His  brigade  was  in  a  state  of  strict  discipline,  admirably 
drilled,  and  on  the  whole  well  armed.  The  troopers  were 
mounted  on  active,  well-built  ponies,  a  little  over  13  hands 
high,  up  to  great  weight.  After  leaving  Mukden  they  were 
entangled  in  a  quagmire  which  extended  for  100  miles,  and 


CHINESE  SOLDIERS 


Chinese  Troops  on  the  March  211 

the  telegrams  of  disaster  were  ominous.  On  the  first  day  their 
commander  beheaded  six  men  for  taking  melons  without  pay- 
ment, and  on  the  second  fourteen  were  decapitated  for  deser- 
tion. 

After  General  Tso's  departure  with  his  disciplined  force  the 
disorder  increased,  and  the  high  officials,  being  left  with  few 
reliable  soldiers,  became  alarmed  for  their  own  positions,  the 
hatred  and  jealousy  between  the  Chinese  and  Manchu  troops 
not  only  constituting  one  of  the  great  difficulties  of  the  war, 
but  threatening  official  safety. 

Rumors  of  disaster  soon  began  to  circulate,  and  with  each 
one  the  ferment  increased,  and  an  Imperial  proclamation  sent 
by  courier  from  Peking  in  the  interests  of  foreigners,  declar- 
ing that  the  Emperor  was  only  at  war  with  the  "  rebel  wojeii " 
(dwarfs),  and  was  at  peace  with  all  other  nations,  did  little  to 
allay  it.  The  able-bodied  beggars  and  unemployed  coolies  in 
the  city  were  swept  into  the  army,  and  were  sent  off  after  three 
weeks'  drill.  The  mule-carts  of  Mukden  and  the  neighborhood 
were  requisitioned  for  transport,  paralyzing  much  of  the  trade 
of  the  city.  Later,  many  of  these  carts  were  burned  as  fuel 
to  cook  the  mules  for  the  starving  troops.  As  Manchu  soldiers 
continued  to  pour  in,  the  shops  were  closed  and  the  streets 
deserted  at  their  approach,  and  many  of  the  merchants  fled  to 
the  hills.  A  Japanese  occupation,  ensuring  security  and  order, 
came  to  be  hoped  for  by  many  sufferers.  The  price  of  pro- 
visions rose,  because  the  country  people  had  either  been  robbed 
of  all  or  did  not  dare  to  bring  them  in,  and  even  the  hospital 
and  dispensary  for  the  same  reason  began  to  be  scantily  at- 
tended. After  Mr.  Wylie's  murder,  things  became  increas- 
ingly serious,  and  by  the  end  of  August  it  became  apparent  to 
the  authorities  that  the  safety  of  foreigners  would  be  jeopard- 
ized by  remaining  much  longer  in  Mukden.  Somewhat  later 
they  left,  Dr.  Ross  and  Dr.  Christie  remaining  behind  for  a 
short  time  at  the  special  request  of  the  Governor.  I  left  on 
20th  August,  and  though  my  friends  were  very  anxious  about 


212  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

my  safety,  I  reached  Newchwang  five  days  later,  having  en- 
countered no  worse  risk  than  that  of  an  attack  by  pirates,  who 
captured  some  junks  with  some  loss  of  life,  after  I  had  eluded 
them  by  travelling  at  night. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

NAGASAKI — WLADIVOSTOK 

AFTER  the  collapse  of  the  rumor  regarding  the  landing  of 
the  Japanese  in  force  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Pe- 
chili,  which  obtained  credence  for  nearly  a  fortnight  in  the 
Far  East,  fluttered  every  Cabinet  in  Europe,  forced  even  so 
cool  and  well-informed  a  man  as  Sir  Robert  Hart  into  hasty 
action,  and  produced  a  hurried  exodus  of  Europeans  from 
Peking  and  a  scare  generally  among  the  foreign  residents  in 
North  China,  I  returned  from  Peking  to  Chefoo  to  await  the 
course  of  events. 

The  war,  its  requirements,  and  its  uncertainties  disarranged 
the  means  of  ocean  transit  so  effectually  that,  after  hanging  on 
for  some  weeks,  in  the  midst  of  daily  rumors  of  great  naval 
engagements,  for  a  steamer  for  Wladivostok,  I  only  succeeded 
in  getting  a  passage  in  a  small  German  boat  which  reluctantly 
carried  one  passenger,  and  in  which  I  spent  a  very  comfortless 
five  days,  in  stormy  weather,  varied  by  the  pleasant  interlude 
of  a  day  at  Nagasaki,  then  in  the  full  glory  of  the  chrysan- 
themum season,  and  aflame  with  scarlet  maples.  Lighted, 
cleaned,  and  policed  to  perfection,  without  a  hole  or  a  heap, 
this  trim  city  of  dwarfs  and  dolls  contrasts  agreeably  with  the 
filth,  squalor,  loathsomeness,  and  general  abominableness 
which  are  found  in  nearly  all  Chinese  cities  outside  the  foreign 
settlements. 

Chinese  moved  about  the  streets  with  an  air  as  of  a  ruling 
race,  and  worked  at  their  trades  and  pursued  the  important 
calling  of  compradores  with  perfect  freedom  from  annoyance, 
the  only  formality  required  of  them  being  registration  ;   while 

213 


214  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

from  China  all  the  Japanese  had  fled  by  the  desire  of  their 
consuls,  not  always  unmolested  in  person  and  property,  and 
any  stray  ''dwarf"  then  found  in  a  Chinese  city  would  have 
been  all  but  certain  to  lose  his  life. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  war  was  still  at  a  white  heat.  Gifts 
in  money  and  kind  fell  in  a  continual  shower  on  the  Nagasaki 
authorities,  nothing  was  talked  of  but  military  successes,  and 
a  theatre  holding  3,000  was  giving  the  profits  of  two  daily 
performances  to  crowded  audiences  in  aid  of  the  War  Fund. 
The  fact  that  ships  were  only  allowed  to  enter  the  port  by  day- 
light, and  were  then  piloted  by  a  Government  steam-launch  in 
charge  of  a  "torpedo  pilot,"  was  the  only  indication  in  the 
harbor  of  an  exceptional  state  of  things. 

It  was  warm  autumn  weather  at  Nagasaki,  but  when  I 
reached  Wladivostok  the  hills  which  surround  its  superb  har- 
bor were  powdered  with  the  first  snows  of  winter,  and  a  snow- 
storm two  days  later  covered  the  country  to  a  depth  of  18 
inches.  Wooded  islands,  wooded  bays,  wooded  hills,  deep 
sheltered  channels  and  inlets,  wooded  to  the  water's  edge, 
bewilder  a  stranger,  then  comes  Fort  Godobin,  and  by  a 
sharp  turn  the  harbor  is  entered,  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world, 
two  and  a  half  miles  long  by  nearly  one  wide,  with  deep  water 
everywhere,  so  deep  that  ships  drawing  25  feet  lie  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  wharves,  and  moor  at  the  Government  pier. 

The  first  view  of  Wladivostok  ("Possession  of  the  East  ") 
is  very  striking,  although  the  vandalism  of  its  builders  has 
deprived  it  of  its  naturally  artistic  background  of  wood. 
Otherwise  the  purple  tone  of  the  land  and  the  blue  crystal  of 
the  water  reminded  me  of  some  of  our  Nova  Scotian  harbors. 
There  is  nothing  Asiatic  about  the  aspect  of  this  Pacific 
capital,  and  indeed  it  is  rather  Transatlantic  than  European. 
Seated  on  a  deeply  embayed  and  apparently  landlocked 
harbor,  along  the  shores  of  which  it  straggles  for  more  than  3 
miles,  climbing  audaciously  up  the  barren  sides  of  denuded 
hills,    irregular,    treeless — lofty   buildings   with    bold    fronts, 


Nagasaki — Wladivostok  215 

Government  House,  "  Kuntz  and  Albers,"  the  glittering 
domes  of  a  Greek  cathedral,  a  Lutheran  church,  Government 
Administrative  Offices,  the  Admiralty,  the  Arsenal,  the  Cadet 
School,  the  Naval  Club,  an  Emigrant  Home,  and  the  grand 
and  solid  terminus  and  offices  of  the  Siberian  Railway,  rising 
out  of  an  irregularity  which  is  not  picturesque,  attract  and  hold 
the  voyager's  attention. 

Requesting  to  be  taken  at  once  to  the  Customs,  the  bewil- 
dered air  of  astonishment  with  which  my  request  was  met  in- 
formed me  that  Wladivostok  had  up  to  that  time  been  a,  free 
port,  and  that  I  was  at  liberty  to  land  unquestioned.  After 
thumping  about  for  some  time  among  a  number  of  stout 
sampans  in  the  midst  of  an  unspeakable  Babel,  I  was  hauled 
on  shore  by  a  number  of  laughing,  shouting,  dirty  Korean 
youths,  who,  after  exchanging  pretty  hard  blows  with  each 
other  for  my  coveted  possessions,  shouldered  them  and  ran  off 
with  them  in  different  directions,  leaving  me  stranded  with  the 
tripod  of  my  camera,  to  which  I  had  clung  desperately  in  the 
melee.  There  were  droskies  not  far  off,  and  four  or  five 
Koreans  got  hold  of  me,  one  dragging  me  towards  one  vehicle, 
others  to  another,  yelling  Korean  into  my  ears,  till  a  Cossack 
policeman  came  and  thumped  them  into  order.  There  were 
hundreds  of  them  on  the  wharf,  and  except  that  they  were 
noisier  and  more  aggressive,  it  was  like  landing  at  Chemulpo. 
Getting  into  a  drosky,  I  said,  "Golden  Horn  Hotel,"  in  my 
most  distinct  English,  then  "  Hotel  Corne  d'or,"  in  my  most 
distinct  French.  The  moiijik  nodded  and  grinned  out  of  his 
fur  hood,  and  started  at  a  gallop  in  the  opposite  direction  !  I 
clutched  him,  and  made  emphatic  signs,  speech  being  useless, 
and  he  turned  and  galloped  in  a  right  direction,  but  stopped 
at  the  disreputable  doorway  of  one  of  the  lowest  of  the  many 
drinking  saloons  with  which  Wladivostok  is  infested. 

There  all  my  Koreans  reappeared,  vociferating  and  excited. 
I  started  the  moiijik  off  again  at  a  gallop,  the  drosky  jumping 
ruts  and   bounding  out  of  holes  with  an  energy  of  elasticity 


2i6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

which  took  my  breath  away,  the  Koreans  racing.  More 
gallops,  more  stoppages  at  pothouses,  and  in  this  fashion  I 
reached  at  last  the  Golded  Horn  Hotel — a  long,  rambling, 
"  disjaskit "  building,  with  a  shady  air  of  disreputableness 
hanging  about  it, — the  escort  of  Koreans  still  good-natured 
and  vociferous.  The  landlady  emerged.  I  tried  her  in 
English  and  French,  but  she  knew  neither.  The  monjik 
shouted  at  us  both  in  Russian,  a  little  crowd  assembled,  each 
man  trying  to  put  matters  straight,  and  when  every  moment 
made  them  more  entangled,  and  the  inoiijik  was  gathering  up 
his  reins  to  gallop  off  on  a  further  quest,  a  Russian  officer  came 
up,  and  in  excellent  English  asked  if  he  could  help  me,  inter- 
preted my  needs  to  the  lady,  lent  me  some  kopecks  with  which 
to  appease  the  Koreans  and  the  moujik,  and  gave  me  the  en- 
joyment of  listening  to  my  own  blessed  tongue,  which  I  had 
not  heard  for  five  days. 

By  a  long  flight  of  stairs,  past  a  great  bar  and  dining-room, 
where  vodka  was  much  en  evidence,  even  in  the  forenoon,  past 
a  billiard-room,  occupied  even  at  that  early  hour,  and  through 
a  large,  dark,  and  dusty  theatre,  I  attained  my  rooms,  a 
"parlor"  and  bedroom  en  suite,  opening  on  and  looking  out 
upon  a  yard  with  pigsties.  There  were  five  doors,  not  one  of 
which  would  lock.  The  rooms  were  furnished  in  Louis 
Quatorze  style,  much  gilding  and  velvet,  all  ancient  and 
dusty.  They  looked  as  if  they  had  known  tragedies,  and 
might  know  them  again.  The  barrier  of  language  was  impass- 
able, and  I  must  be  unskilled  in  the  use  of  signs,  for  I  quite 
failed  to  make  any  one  understand  that  I  wanted  food. 

I  went  out,  cashed  a  circular  note  at  the  great  German  house 
of  Kuntz  and  Albers,  the  "  Whiteleys  "  of  Eastern  Siberia, 
where  all  the  information  that  I  then  needed  was  given  in  the 
most  polite  way,  found  it  impossible  anywhere  else  to  make 
myself  understood  in  English  or  French,  failed  in  an  attempt 
to  buy  postage  stamps  or  to  get  food,  delivered  the  single  letter 
of  introduction  which  I  had  somewhat  ungraciously  accepted, 


Nagasaki — Wladivostok  217 

and  returned  to  my  meludramatic  domicile  to  consider  the 
possibilities  of  travel,  which  at  that  moment  were  not  en- 
couraging. 

Before  long  Mr.  Charles  Smith,  the  oldest  foreign  resident 
in  Wladivostok,  to  whom  my  letter  was  addressed,  called,  a 
kindly  and  genial  presence,  and,  as  I  afterwards  found,  full  of 
good  deeds  and  benevolence.  He  took  me  at  once  to  call  on 
General  Unterberger,  the  Governor  of  the  Maratime  Province. 
I  think  I  never  saw  so  gigantic  a  man — military,  too,  from  his 
spurs  to  his  coat  collar.  As  he  rose  to  receive  me  he  looked 
as  if  his  head  might  eventually  touch  the  lofty  ceiling. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  persona  grata  in  Wladivostok,  and  very 
much  so  with  the  Governor,  who  consequently  received  me 
with  much  friendliness,  and  asked  me  to  let  him  know  my 
plans.  I  explained  what  I  wanted  to  do,  subject  to  his  ap- 
proval, and  presented  my  credentials,  which  were  of  the  best. 
He  said  that  he  quite  approved  of  my  project,  and  would  do 
anything  he  could  to  help  me,  and  wrote  on  the  spot  a  letter 
to  the  Frontier  Commissioner,  but  he  added  that  the  disorgan- 
ized and  undisciplined  state  of  the  Chinese  army  near  the 
frontier  might  render  some  modification  of  my  plan  neces- 
sary, as  I  afterwards  found.  The  Governor  and  his  wife  speak 
excellent  English,  and  the  social  intercourse  which  I  had  with 
them  afterwards  was  most  agreeable  and  instructive. 

During  the  afternoon  Mr.  Smith  returned,  and  saying  that 
he  and  his  wife  could  not  endure  my  staying  in  that  hotel, 
took  me  away  to  his  home  high  up  on  a  steep  hillside,  with  a 
glorious  view  of  the  city  and  harbor,  and  of  which  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  whether  the  sunshine  were  brighter  within  or  with- 
out. Under  such  propitious  circumstances  my  two  visits 
became  full  of  sunny  memories,  and  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I 
see  Wladivostok  a  little  cottleur  de  rose  ;  for  the  extraordinary 
kindness  which  dogs  and  shadows  the  traveller  in  the  Far  East 
were  met  with  there  in  perfection,  and  where  I  was  received 
by  strangers  I  left  highly  valued  friends. 


2i8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

After  a  snowstorm  splendid  weather  set  in.  The  snow  pre- 
vented dust  blasts,  the  ordinary  drawback  of  an  Eastern 
Siberian  winter,  the  skies  were  brilliant  and  unclouded,  the 
sunsets  carnivals  of  color,  the  air  exhilarating,  the  mercury  at 
night  averaging  20°,  there  was  light  without  heat,  the  main 
road  was  full  of  sleighs  going  at  a  gallop,  their  bells  making 
low  music,  all  that  is  unsightly  was  hidden,  and  this  weather 
continued  for  five  weeks  ! 

"The  Possession  of  the  East"  is  nothing  if  not  military 
and  naval.  Forts,  earthworks,  at  which  it  is  prudent  not  to 
look  too  long  or  intently,  great  military  hospitals,  huge  red 
brick  barracks  in  every  direction,  offices  of  military  adminis- 
tration, squads  of  soldiers  in  brown  ulsters  and  peaked  pasha- 
liks,  carrying  pickaxes  or  spades  on  their  shoulders,^  sappers 
with  their  tools,  in  small  parties,  officers,  mostly  with  port- 
folios or  despatch  boxes  under  their  arms,  dashing  about  in 
sleighs,  and  the  prohibition  of  photography,  all  indicate  its 
fortress  character.  Certainly  two  out  of  every  three  people  in 
the  streets  are  in  uniform,  and  the  Cossack  police,  who 
abound,  are  practically  soldiers. 

Naval  it  is  also.  There  are  ships  of  war  in  and  out  of  com- 
mission, a  brand-new  admiralty,  a  navy  yard,  a  floating  dock, 
a  magnificent  dry  dock,  only  just  completed,  and  a  naval 
clubhouse,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  buildings  in  Wladivos- 
tok.  No  matter  that  Nature  closes  the  harbor  from  Christmas 
to  the  end  of  March  !     Science  has  won  the  victory,  and  the 

1  The  Russian  soldier  does  a  great  amount  of  day  labor.  Far  from 
disporting  himself  in  brilliant  uniform  before  the  admiring  eyes  of  boys 
and  "  servant  girls,"  he  digs,  builds,  carpenters,  makes  shoes  and  harness, 
and  does  a  good  civil  day's  work  in  addition  to  his  military  duties,  and  is 
paid  for  this  as  "  piecework  "  on  a  fixed  scale,  his  daily  earnings  being 
duly  entered  in  a  book.  When  he  has  served  his  time  these  are  handed 
over  to  him,  and  a  steady,  industrious  man  makes  enough  to  set  himself 
up  in  a  small  business  or  on  a  farm.  Vodka  and  schnaps  are  the  Russian 
soldier's  great  enemies. 


Nagasaki — Wladivostok  219 

port  has  been  kept  open  for  the  last  two  winters  by  means  of  a 
powerful  ice-breaker  and  the  services  of  the  troops  in  towing 
the  blocks  of  ice  out  to  sea.  Large  steamers  of  the  "Volun- 
teer Fleet"  leave  Odessa  and  Wladivostok  monthly  or  fort- 
nightly. As  the  eastern  terminus  of  the  Trans-Siberian  Rail- 
way, Wladivostok  aspires  to  be  what  she  surely  will  be — at 
once  the  Gibraltar  and  Odessa  of  the  Far  East,  one  of  the 
most  important  of  commercial  emporiums,  as  the  ''distribu- 
ting point"  for  the  commerce  of  that  vast  area  of  prolific 
country  which  lies  south  of  the  Amur.  Possibly  a  branch 
line  to  Port  Shestakoff  in  Ham-gyong  Do  may  enable  the 
Government  to  dispense  with  the  services  of  the  ice-breaker  ! 

The  progress  of  the  city  is  remarkable.  The  site,  then  a 
forest,  was  only  surveyed  in  i860.  In  1863  many  of  the 
trees  were  felled  and  some  shanties  were  erected.  Later  than 
that  a  tiger  was  shot  on  the  site  of  the  new  Government  House, 
and  a  man  leaving  two  horses  to  be  shod  outside  the  smithy 
had  them  both  devoured  by  tigers.  Gradually  the  big  oaks 
and  pines  were  cleared  away,  and  wooden  houses  were  slowly 
added,  until  1872,  when  the  removal  of  the  naval  establish- 
ment of  60  men  from  Nicolaeffk  on  the  Amur  to  the  new  set- 
tlement gave  it  a  decided  start.  Li  1878  it  had  a  population 
of  1,400.  Li  1897  its  estimated  civil  population  was  25,000, 
including  3,000  Koreans,  who  have  their  own  settlement  a 
mile  from  the  city,  and  are  its  draymen  and  porters,  and  2,000 
Chinese.  The  latter  keep  most  of  the  shops,  and  have  ob- 
tained a  monopoly  of  the  business  in  meat,  fish,  game,  fruit, 
vegetables,  and  other  perishable  commodities,  their  guild  be- 
ing strong  enough  to  squeeze  the  Russians  out  of  the  trade  in 
these  articles,  which  are  sold  in  four  large  wooden  buildings 
by  the  harbor  known  as  the  **  Bazar."  There  are  some  good 
Japanese  shops,  but  the  Japanese  are  usually  domestic  servants  at 
high  wages,  and  after  a  few  years  return  to  enjoy  their  savings 
in  their  own  country.  A  naturalized  German  is  the  only  British 
subject,  and  my  host  and  his  family  are  the  only  Americans. 


220  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  capital  has  two  subsidized  and  two  independent  lines 
of  steamers,  700  families  of  Russian  assisted  emigrants  enter 
Primorsk  annually,  each  head  of  a  household  being  required 
to  be  the  possessor  of  600  roubles  C;£6o),  and  from  8,000  to 
10,000  Chinese  from  the  Shan-tung  province  arrive  every 
spring  to  fulfil  labor  contracts,  returning  to  China  in  Decem- 
ber, carrying  out  of  the  country  from  25  to  50  dollars  each, 
convict  labor  from  the  penal  settlement  of  Saghalien  having 
been  abandoned  as  impracticable. 

The  Chinese  shops,  which  are  a  feature  of  Wladivostok,  un- 
dersell both  Russians  and  Germans,  and  have  an  increasing 
trade.  Kuntz  and  Albers,  a  Hamburg  firm  of  importers, 
bankers,  shipping  agents,  and  Whiteleyism  in  general,  with 
sixty  clerks,  mostly  German,  with  a  few  Russians,  Danes,  and 
Koreans,  conduct  an  enormous  wholesale  and  retail  business 
in  a  "palatial"  pile  of  brick  and  stone  buildings,  and  has 
sixteen  branch  houses  in  Eastern  Siberia,  and  the  German  firm 
of  Langalutje  runs  them  very  closely. 

The  railway  station  and  offices  are  solid  and  handsome  ;  an 
admirably  built  railroad,  open  to  the  Ussuri  Bridge,  186  miles, 
and  progressing  towards  the  Amur  with  great  rapidity,  points 
to  a  new  commercial  future  ;  streets  of  shops  and  dwelling- 
houses,  in  which  brick  and  stone  are  fast  replacing  wood,  are 
extending  to  the  north,  east,  and  west,  and  along  the  Gulf  of 
Peter  the  Great,  for  fully  three  miles ;  and  new  and  handsome 
official  and  private  edifices  of  much  pretension  were  being 
rapidly  completed.  One  broad  road,  with  houses  sometimes 
on  one,  sometimes  on  both  sides,  running  along  the  hillside 
for  2  miles  at  a  considerable  height,  is  the  "  Main  Street"  or 
"High  Street"  of  Wladivostok.  Along  it  are  built  most  of 
the  public  buildings,  and  the  great  shops  and  mercantile 
offices.  It  is  crossed  by  painfully  steep  roads  climbing  up  the 
hill  and  descending  with  equal  steepness  to  the  sea.  There 
are  two  or  three  parallel  roads  of  small  importance. 

The  builder  was  at  work  in  all  quarters,  and  the  clink  of 


Nagasaki — Wladivostok  221 

the  mason's  trowel  and  the  ring  of  the  carpenter's  hammer 
were  only  silent  for  a  few  hours  during  the  night.  Several  of 
Government  buildings  were  barely  finished,  and  were  occupied 
before  they  were  painted  and  stuccoed.  Building  up  and 
pulling  down  were  going  on  simultaneously.  Roads  were 
being  graded,  culverts  and  retaining  walls  built,  and  wooden 
houses  showed  signs  of  disappearing  from  the  principal  thor- 
oughfare. There  was  a  "  boom  "  in  real  property.  The 
value  of  land  has  risen  fabulously.  "Lots"  which  were 
bought  in  1864  for  600  and  3,000  roubles  are  now  worth  12,- 
000  and  20,000,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  town  land  is  not  to 
be  bought  at  any  price. 

Newness,  progress,  hopefulness  are  characteristics  of  civil 
Wladivostok.  It  has  the  aspect  of  a  growing  city  in  the 
American  Far  West.  Few  things  are  finished  and  all  are  go- 
ing ahead.  The  sidewalks  are  mostly  narrow,  and  composed 
of  rough  planks,  with  a  tendency  to  tip  up  or  down,  but  here 
and  there  is  a  fine  piece  of  granite  flagging  10  feet  wide. 
The  hotels  have  more  of  the  shady  character  of  "saloons"  or 
barrooms  than  of  anything  reputable  or  established.  Hand- 
some houses  of  brick  and  stone  shoulder  wooden  shanties. 
Fashionable  carriages  or  sleighs  bounce  over  ungraded  streets. 
The  antediluvian  ox-cart  with  its  Korean  driver  bumps  and 
creaks  through  the  streets  alongside  of  the  troika,  with  its 
three  galloping  horses  in  showy  harness,  and  its  occupants  in 
the  latest  and  daintiest  of  Parisian  costumes. 

But  the  all-pervading  flavor  of  militarism  overpowers  the 
suggestion  of  the  American  Far  West.  The  first  buildings  on 
the  barren  coast  are  military  hospitals  and  barracks,  and  bar- 
racks thicken  as  the  city  is  approached.  The  female  element 
is  in  a  remarkable  minority.  The  dull  roll  of  artillery  and 
commissariat  wagons,  the  tramp,  morning  and  night,  of  brown 
battalions,  and  the  continual  throb  of  drum  and  blare  of 
trumpet  and  bugle,  recall  one  to  the  fact  that  this  is  the  capital 
of  Russia's  vast,  growing,  aspiring.  Pacific  Empire. 


222  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Theatricals,  concerts,  and  balls  fill  up  the  winter  season. 
Except  on  the  itw  days  on  which  snow  falls,  the  skies  are 
cloudless,  the  temperature  is  not  seriously  below  zero,  and  the 
dryness  of  the  air  is  very  invigorating.  In  winters,  happily 
somewhat  exceptional,  in  which  there  is  no  snowfall,  and  the 
strong  winds  create  dust-storms,  the  climate  is  less  agreeable. 
Spring  is  abrupt  and  pleasant,  and  autumn  is  a  fine  season,  but 
summer  is  hot,  damp,  and  misty. 

A  fine  Greek  cathedral,  with  many  domes  and  lofty  gilded 
crosses,  which  gleam  mysteriously  in  the  sunset  when  the 
gloom  of  twilight  has  wrapped  all  else,  a  prominent  Lutheran 
church,  and  a  Chinese  joss-house,  provide  for  the  religious 
needs  of  the  population.  The  Governor  of  the  Maritime 
Province,  several  of  the  leading,  and  many  of  the  lower  offi- 
cials are  of  German  origin  from  the  Baltic  provinces,  Luther- 
ans, and  possibly  imbued  with  a  few  liberal  ideas.  But  among 
the  kindly,  cultured,  and  agreeable  people  whose  acquaintance 
I  made  in  ^Vladivostok  one  peculiarity  impressed  me  forcibly 
— the  absolute  stagnation  of  thought,  or  the  expression  of  it, 
on  politics  and  all  matters  connected  with  them,  the  adminis- 
tration of  government,  religion,  the  orthodox  church,  dissent, 
home  and  foreign  policy,  etc.  It  is  true  that  certain  subjects, 
and  these  among  the  most  interesting,  are  carefully  eliminated 
from  conversation,  and  that  to  introduce  any  one  of  them 
might  subject  the  offender  to  social  ostracism. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

KOREAN    SETTLERS    IN    SIBERIA 

THE  chief  object  of  my  visit  to  Russian  Manchuria  was  to 
settle  for  myself  by  personal  investigation  the  vexed 
question  of  the  condition  of  those  Koreans  who  have  found 
shelter  under  the  Russian  flag,  a  number  estimated  in  Seoul  at 
20,000.  It  was  there  persistently  said  that  Russia  was  banish- 
ing them  in  large  numbers,  and  that  several  thousands  of  them 
had  already  recrossed  the  Tumen,  and  were  in  such  poverty 
that  the  King  of  Korea  had  sent  agents  to  the  north  who  were 
to  settle  them  on  lands  in  Ham-gyong  Do. 

But  in  Wladivostok  the  servant-interpreter  difficulty  was  ab- 
solutely insurmountable.  No  efforts  on  the  part  of  my  friends 
could  obtain  what  did  not  exist,  and  I  was  on  the  verge  of 
giving  up  what  proved  a  very  interesting  journey,  when  the 
Director  of  the  Siberian  Telegraph  Lines  very  kindly  liberated 
the  senior  official  in  his  department,  who  had  not  had  a  holi- 
day for  many  years,  to  go  with  me.  Mr.  Heidemann,  a  Ger- 
man from  the  Baltic  provinces,  spoke  German,  Russian,  and 
English  with  nearly  equal  ease,  and  as  a  Russian  official  was 
able  to  make  things  smoother  than  they  might  otherwise  have 
been  in  a  very  rough  part  of  Primorsk.  He  was  tall,  good- 
looking,  and  verging  on  middle  age,  very  gentlemanly,  never 
failed  in  any  courtesy,  understood  how  to  manage  moiijiks, 
and  was  a  capable  and  willing  interpreter ;  but  he  was  official, 
reticent,  and  uninterested,  and  gave  me  the  impression  of  be- 
ing frozen  into  his  uniform  ! 

Fortified   as  to  my  project  by  the  cordial  approval  of  the 

223 


224  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Governor,  the  courtesy  of  the  Telegraphi  Department,  and  the 
singular  splendor  of  the  weather,  I  left  Wladivostok  by  a  red 
sunrise  in  a  small  steamer,  which  accomplished  the  60  miles 
to  Possiet  Bay  in  seven  hours,  landing  us  in  a  deep  inlet  of 
clear  water  and  white  sand,  soon  to  be  closed  by  ice,  at  the 
foot  of  low  and  absolutely  barren  hills  fringing  off  into  sandy 
knolls,  where  Koreans  with  their  ox-carts  awaited  the  steamer. 
A  well  spread  tea-table  at  the  house  of  the  Russian  postmaster 
was  very  welcome.  Such  a  strong-looking  family  I  had  seldom 
seen,  but  afterwards  I  found  that  size  and  strength  are  charac- 
teristic of  the  Russian  settlers  in  Primorsk. 

Possiet  Bay  is  a  large  military  station  of  fine  barracks  and 
storehouses.  It  scarcely  seemed  to  possess  a  civil  population, 
but  there  are  Korean  settlements  at  no  great  distance,  from 
which  much  of  the  beef  supply  of  Wladivostok  is  derived. 
We  met  a  number  of  strong,  thriving-looking  Koreans  driving 
60  fine  fat  cattle  down  to  the  steamer. 

The  post  wagon,  in  which  we  were  cramped  up  among  and 
under  the  mail-bags,  took  us  at  a  two  hours'  gallop  along 
frozen  inlets  of  the  sea  and  across  frozen  rivers,  over  grassy, 
hilly  country,  scarcely  enlivened  by  Korean  farms  in  the  val- 
leys, to  Nowo  Kiewsk,  which  we  reached  after  nightfall,  and 
were  hospitably  received  by  the  representative  of  Messrs. 
Kuntz  and  Albers,  whose  large  brick  and  stone  establishment 
is  the  prominent  object  in  the  settlement. 

Nowo  Kiewsk  is  a  great  military  post,  to  which  1,000 
civilians,  chiefly  Koreans  and  Chinese,  have  been  attracted  by 
the  prospect  of  gain.  Koreans  indeed  form  the  bulk  of  this 
population,  and  do  all  the  hauling  of  goods  and  fuel  with  their 
ox-teams.  The  centre  of  the  town  is  a  great  dusty  slope  inter- 
sected by  dusty  and  glaring  roads,  which  resound  at  intervals 
from  early  morning  till  sunset  with  the  steady  tramp  of  brown- 
ulslered  battalions.  Between  Possiet  Bay  and  Nowo  Kiewsk 
there  were  10,000  infantry  and  artillery,  and  at  the  latter  post 
8  pieces  of  field  artillery  and   24  two-wheeled  ammunition 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  225 

wagons.  Barracks  for  10,000  more  nien  were  in  course  of 
rapid  construction.  Long  wooden  sheds  shelter  the  artillery 
ponies,  and  villages  of  low  mud  houses  of  two  rooms  each, 
with  windows  consisting  of  a  single  small  pane  of  glass,  the 
families  of  soldiers.  There  are  great  drill  and  parade  grounds 
and  an  imposing  Greek  church  of  the  usual  pattern. 

With  its  great  open  spaces  and  wide  streets,  Nowo  Kiewsk 
looks  laid  out  for  futurity,  straggling  along  a  treeless  and 
bushless  hill  slope  for  2  miles.  In  addition  to  Kuntz  and 
Albers,  with  their  polyglot  staff  of  clerks,  among  whom  a 
young  Korean  in  European  dress  was  conspicuous  for  his  gen- 
tlemanliness  and  alacrity,  there  is  another  German  house,  and 
there  are  forty  small  shops,  chiefly  kept  by  Chinese,  at  all  of 
which  schnaps  and  vodka  are  sold. 

I  was  detained  there  for  three  days  while  arrangements  for 
my  southern  journey  were  being  made,  and  during  that  time 
the  Chief  of  Police,  who  spoke  French,  took  me  to  several 
Korean  villages.  So  far  as  I  saw  and  heard,  the  whole  agri- 
cultural population  of  the  neighborhood  is  Korean,  and  is  in  a 
very  prosperous  condition.  There,  and  down  to  the  Korean 
frontier,  most  of  these  settlers  are  doing  well,  and  some  of  them 
are  growing  rich  as  contractors  for  the  supply  of  meat  and  grain 
to  the  Russian  forces.  At  this  they  have  beaten  their  Chinese 
neighbors,  and  they  actually  go  into  Chinese  Manchuria,  buy 
up  lean  cattle,  and  fatten  them  for  beef.  To  those  who  have 
only  seen  the  Koreans  in  Korea,  such  a  statement  will  be  hardly 
credible.  Yet  it  does  not  stand  alone,  for  I  have  it  on  the 
best  authority  that  the  Korean  settlers  near  Khabaroffka  have 
competed  so  successfully  with  the  Chinese  in  market  garden- 
ing that  the  supplying  that  city  with  vegetables  is  now  en- 
tirely in  their  hands  ! 

The  Russian  tarantass  is  one  of  the  most  uncouth  of  civil- 
ized vehicles— all  that  can  be  said  of  it  is  that  it  suits  the  roads, 
which  in  that  region  are  execrable.  On  two  sets  of  stout  wheels 
and  axles,  attached  to  each  other  by  long  solid  timbers,  a  long 


226  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

shallow  box  is  secured,  with  one,  two,  or  even  three  boards, 
cushioned  or  not,  ''roped"  across  it  for  seats.  It  maybe 
drawn  by  either  two  or  three  horses  abreast,  one  in  the  shafts 
and  one  or  two  outside,  each  with  the  most  slender  attachment 
to  the  vehicle,  and  his  head  held  down  and  inwards  by  a  tight 
strap.  This  outer  animal  is  trained  to  a  showy  gallop,  which 
never  slackens  even  though  the  shaft  horse  may  keep  up  a 
decorous  trot.  The  tarantass  has  no  springs,  and,  going  at  a 
gallop,  bumps  and  bounces  over  all  obstacles,  holes,  hillocks, 
ruts  and  streams  being  alike  to  it. 

The  tarantass  of  the  Chief  of  Police  made  nothing  of  the 
obstacles  on  the  road  to  Yantchihe,  where  we  were  to  hear  of 
a  Korean  interpreter.  The  level  country,  narrowing  into  a 
valley  bordered  by  fine  mountains,  is  of  deep,  rich  black  soil, 
and  grows  almost  all  cereals  and  roots.  All  the  crops  were 
gathered  in  and  the  land  was  neatly  ploughed.  Korean 
hamlets  with  houses  of  a  very  superior  class  to  those  in  Korea 
were  sprinkled  over  the  country.  At  one  of  the  largest 
villages,  where  140  families  were  settled  on  750  acres  of  rich 
land,  we  called  at  several  of  the  peasant  farmers'  houses,  and 
were  made  very  welcome,  even  the  women  coming  out  to 
welcome  the  official  with  an  air  of  decided  pleasure.  The 
farmers  had  changed  the  timid,  suspicious,  or  cringing  manner 
which  is  characteristic  of  them  to  a  great  extent  at  home,  for 
an  air  of  frankness  and  manly  independence  which  was  most 
pleasing. 

The  Chief  of  Police  was  a  welcome  visitor.  The  Koreans 
had  nothing  to  fear,  unless  his  quick  scent  discerned  an  in- 
sanitary odor  or  his  eye  an  anwarrantable  garbage  heap  !  The 
farmyards  were  clean  and  well  swept,  and  the  domestic  animals 
were  lodged  in  neat  sheds.  The  houses,  of  strictly  Korean 
architecture,  were  large,  with  five  or  six  rooms,  carefully 
thatched,  and  very  neat  within,  abounding  in  such  comforts 
and  plenishings  as  would  only  be  dreamed  of  by  mandarins  at 
home.     It  is  insisted  on,  however,  that,  instead  of  the  flues 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  227 

which  heat  the  floors  vomiting  forth  their  smoke  through  many 
blackened  apertures  in  the  walls,  they  shall  unite  in  sending  it 
heavenwards  through  a  hollow  tree  trunk  placed  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  house.  This,  and  cleanly  surroundings  in  the 
interests  of  sanitation,  are  the  only  restrictions  on  their  Korean 
habits.  The  clothing  and  dwellings  are  the  same  as  in  Korea, 
and  the  *'  topknot  "  flourishes. 

A  little  farther  on  there  is  the  large  village  of  Yantchihe, 
with  a  neat  schoolhouse,  in  which  Russian  and  Korean  pupils 
sit  side  by  side  at  their  lessons,  a  Greek  church,  singularly 
rich  in  internal  decorations,  and  a  priest's  house  adjoining. 
This  is  a  very  prosperous  village.  In  the  neat  police  station  a 
Korean  sergeant  wrote  down  my  requirements  and  sent  off  a 
smart  Korean  policeman  in  search  of  an  interpreter.  Four 
hundred  Koreans  in  this  neighborhood  have  conformed  to  the 
Greek  Church  and  have  received  baptism.  On  asking  the 
priest,  who  was  more  picturesque  than  cultivated,  and  whose 
large  young  family  seemed  oppressively  large  for  the  house, 
what  sort  of  Christians  they  made,  he  replied  suggestively  that 
they  had  "a.  great  deal  to  learn,"  and  that  there  would  be 
"  more  hope  for  the  next  generation." 

I  am  not  clear  in  my  own  mind  as  to  the  cause  of  the  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  "  missionary  effort  "  at  Yantchihe  and 
elsewhere.  The  statements  I  received  on  the  subject  differed 
widely,  and  in  most  cases  were  made  hesitatingly,  as  if  my  in- 
formants were  not  sure  of  their  ground.  My  impression  is 
that  while  Russia  is  tolerant  of  devil-worship,  or  any  other 
worship  which  is  not  subversive  of  the  externals  of  morality, 
♦'  conformity  "  is  required  to  obtain  for  the  Korean  alien  those 
blessings  which  belong  to  naturalization  as  a  Russian  subject. 

Preparations  being  completed  for  travelling  to  the  Korean 
frontier,  and  into  Korea  as  far  as  Kyong-heung,  a  town  which 
a  Trade  Convention  in  1888  opened  to  the  residence  of  Rus- 
sian subjects  in  the  hope  of  creating  a  market  there  after  the 
style  of  Kiachta,  I  had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Matunin,  the 


228  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Frontier  Commissioner,  who  gave  me  a  very  unpleasant  ac- 
count of  insecurity  on  the  frontier  owing  to  the  lawlessness  of 
the  Chinese  troops,  and  an  introduction  to  the  Governor  of 
Kyong-heung. 

A  large  tarantass  with  three  ponies  and  a  driver,  a  Korean 
on  another  pony,  and  the  Korean  headman  of  a  neighboring 
village,  who  spoke  Russian  well,  and  our  saddles  were  our 
modest  outfit.  The  details  of  the  two  days'  journey  to  the 
Tumen  are  too  monotonous  for  infliction  on  the  reader.  The 
road  was  infamous,  and  at  times  disappeared  altogether  on  a 
hillside  or  in  a  swamp,  and  swamps  are  frequent  for  the  first 
40  versts.  The  tarantass,  always  attempting  a  gallop, 
bounced,  bumped,  and  thumped,  till  breathing  became  a  series 
of  gasps.  Occasionally  we  stuck  fast  in  swampy  streams  where 
the  ice  was  broken,  being  extricated  by  a  tremendous,  united, 
and  apparently  trained,  jump  on  the  part  of  the  ponies,  which 
compelled  a  strong  grip  of  the  vehicle  with  hands  and  feet, 
and  would  have  dislocated  any  other.  Mr.  Heidemann 
smoked  cigarettes  unceasingly,  and  made  no  remarks. 

We  crossed  the  head  of  Possiet  Bay  and  other  inlets  at  a 
gallop  on  thin  ice,  forded  several  streams  in  the  aforesaid 
fashion,  and  passed  through  several  Korean  coast  villages 
given  up  to  the  making  of  salt  by  a  rude  process,  the  finished 
product  being  carted  away  to  Hun-chun  in  China  in  baskets 
of  finely  woven  reeds.  These  Chinese  carts  are  drawn  by 
seven  mules  each,  constantly  driven  at  a  gallop. 

After  30  versts  the  country  became  very  hilly,  with  rugged 
mountains  in  the  distance,  all  without  a  tree  or  bush,  and  covered 
with  coarse  and  fine  grasses  mixed  up  with  myriads  of  with- 
ered flower  stalks  of  Composite  and  Umbelliferce,  and  here 
and  there  a  lonely,  belated  purple  aster  shivered  in  the  strong 
keen  wind,  which  made  an  atmosphere  at  zero  somewhat  hard 
to  face.  The  valleys  are  flat  and  broad,  and  their  rich  black 
soil,  the  product  of  ages  of  decaying  vegetation,  is  absolutely 
stoneless.     Almost  all  crops  can  be  raised  upon  it.     Besides 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  229 

being  a  rich  agricultural  country,  the  region  is  well  suited  for 
cattle  breeding.  There  were  large  herds  on  the  hills,  and  hay- 
stacks thickly  scattered  over  the  landscape  indicated  abundance 
of  winter  keep.  The  potato,  which  flourishes  and  is  free  from 
the  disease,  is  largely  cultivated,  and  is  now  with  the  Koreans 
an  article  of  ordinary  diet. 

The  whole  of  this  fine  country  is  settled  by  Koreans,  for  the 
few  hamlets  of  wretched,  tumble-down  Chinese  houses  are  of 
no  account.  Whether  as  squatters  or  purchasers,  they  are 
making  the  best  of  the  land.  The  number  of  their  domestic 
animals  enables  them  to  fertilize  it  abundantly ;  they  plough 
deep,  and  rotate  their  crops,  and  get  a  splendid  yield  from 
their  lands.  We  halted  at  Saretchje,  a  village  of  120  families, 
admirably  housed,  and  with  all  material  comforts  abounding 
about  them.  Out  of  its  600  inhabitants,  450  have  ^*  con- 
formed." The  Koreans,  having  no  religion,  are  apparently 
not  unwilling  to  secure  the  possible  advantages  of  conversion, 
and  though  none  of  the  Greek  priests  who  conversed  with  me 
were  enthusiastic  about  their  ''  consistency,"  it  is  at  least  more 
satisfactory  to  see  an  "  Ecce  Homo  "  on  the  wall  than  the 
family  daemon. 

At  distances  of  3  and  4  miles  there  are  Korean  villages,  of 
which  prosperity  in  greater  or  less  degree  is  a  characteristic. 
The  houses  are  large  and  well  built,  and  the  farmyards  are 
well  stocked  with  domestic  animals,  the  people  and  children 
are  well  clothed,  and  the  village  lands  carefully  cultivated. 

A  long  ascent,  during  which  the  road,  which  for  some  time 
had  been  intermittent,  gradually  disappeared,  leads  to  the 
summit  of  a  high  hill,  from  which  the  mountainous  frontiers 
of  Russia,  China,  and  Korea  are  seen  to  converge.  After 
losing  our  way  and  our  time,  and  crossing  several  ranges  of 
hills  without  a  road,  just  as  the  winter  sun  was  setting  in  a 
flood  of  red  gold,  glorifying  the  mountains  on  the  Chinese 
frontier,  a  turn  round  a  blufl"  revealed  what  is  geographically 
and  politically  a  striking  view. 


230  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  whole  of  the  Russo-Korean  frontier,  11  miles  in  length, 
and  a  broad  river  full  of  sandbanks,  passing  through  a  desert 
of  sandhills  to  the  steely  blue  ocean,  lay  crimson  in  the  sun- 
set. On  a  steep  bluff  above  the  river  a  tall  granite  slab  marks 
the  spot  where  the  Russian  and  Chinese  frontiers  meet. 
Across  the  Tumen,  the  barren  mountains  of  Korea  loomed 
purple  through  a  haze  of  gold.  Three  empires  are  seen  at  a 
glance.  A  small  and  poor  Korean  village  is  situated  in  a  val- 
ley below.  Close  to  the  Boundary  Stone,  on  the  high  steep 
bluff  above  the  Tumen,  there  is  a  large  mud  hut  from  which 
most  of  the  whitewash  had  scaled  off,  with  thatch  held  on  by 
straw  ropes,  weighted  with  stones. 

It  was  a  very  lonely  scene.  A  Korean '  told  us  that  it  was 
absolutely  impossible  for  us  to  sleep  at  the  village.  A  Cos- 
sack came  out  of  the  hut,  took  a  long  look  at  us,  and  returned. 
Then  a  forlorn-looking  corporal  appeared,  who  also  took  a 
long  look,  and  having  hospitable  instincts,  came  up  and  told 
us  that  the  village  was  impossible  except  for  the  drivers  and 
horses,  but  that  he  could  put  us  up  roughly  in  the  hut,  which 
consisted  of  one  fair  sized  room,  another  very  small  one,  and 
a  lean-to. 

The  latest  English  papers  had  stated  that  "  Russia  has  lately 
massed  5,000  men  on  the  Korean  frontier,  and  4,000  at  Hun- 
chun."  It  is  not  desirable  to  make  any  inquiries  about  the 
positions  and  numbers  of  Russian  troops,  and  I  had  prudently 
abstained  from  asking  questions,  and  had  looked  forward  with 
interest  to  seeing  a  great  display  of  military  force.  This  hut 
is  the  military  post  of  Krasnoye  Celo,  and  the  "army"  of 
Russia  "  massed  on  her  Korean  frontier  "  consisted  of  15  men 
and  a  corporal,  the  officer  being  required  to  endure  the  isola- 
tion of  the  position  for  six  months,  and  the  privates  for  one. 
The  roars  of  laughter  which  greeted  the  English  statement 
were  not  complimentary  to  newspaper  accuracy. 

The  corporal's  small  room  was  of  no  particular  shape,  and 
was  furnished  with  only  a  deal  chair  and  small  table,  and  a 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  231 

big  earthen  jar  of  water,  but  it  was  well  warmed,  and  had  an 
iron  camp-bed  in  a  recess  with  a  wire-wove  mattress,  much 
broken  and  "sagging,"  the  sharp  points  of  the  broken  wires 
sticking  up  in  several  places  through  the  one  rug  with  which  I 
attempted  to  mollify  their  asperities.  This  recess,  which  just 
contained  the  bed,  was  curtained  off  for  me,  and  the  corporal, 
Mr.  Heidemann,  and  three  Korean  headmen  lay  closely  packed 
on  the  floor.  The  corporal,  glad  to  have  people  to  talk  with, 
talked  more  than  half  the  night,  and  began  again  before  day- 
break. We  supped  on  barrack  fare — black  bread,  barley 
brose,  and  tea,  with  the  addition  of  a  little  kwass,  a  very 
slightly  fermented  drink,  made  from  black  bread,  raisins, 
sugar,  and  a  little  vodka,  schnaps  and  vodka  containing  40  per 
cent,  of  alcohol.  At  9  p.m.  I  was  surprised  and  delighted  with 
the  noble  strains  of  a  Greek  Litany,  chanted  in  well-balanced 
parts  from  the  barrack-room,  the  evening  worship  of  the  Cos- 
sacks. 

My  last  sunset  view  of  the  Tumen  was  of  a  sheet  of  ice. 
The  headmen  of  the  Korean  villages  of  Sajorni  and  Krasnoe, 
who  were  in  council  till  near  midnight,  thought  it  was  impos- 
sible to  get  across,  and  they  said  that  the  ferryboat  was  drawn 
ashore  and  was  frozen  in  for  the  winter,  and  that  two  Russian 
Commissioners  and  a  General,  after  waiting  for  three  days, 
had  left  the  day  before,  having  failed.  However,  yielding  to 
my  urgency,  they  set  all  the  able-bodied  men  of  Sajorni  to 
work  at  2  a.m.  to  dig  the  boat  out,  and  by  7  she  had  moved 
some  yards  towards  the  river,  which,  however,  was  still  a  sheet 
of  ice.  Later,  the  corporal  sent  i4  of  his  men  to  help  the 
Koreans,  laughingly  saying  that  I  had  the  "  whole  Russian 
frontier  army  to  get  me  across."  At  9  word  came  that  the 
boat  was  nearly  afloat,  and  we  started,  on  horseback,  with  two 
baggage  ponies,  and  rode  a  mile  over  the  hills  and  through 
the  prosperous  Korean  village  of  Sajorni,  down  to  a  dazzling 
expanse  of  sand  through  which  the  Tumen  flows  to  the  sea, 
there  10  miles  off. 


232  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

The  river  ice  was  breaking  np  into  large  masses  under  the 
morning  sun,  and  between  Russia  and  Korea  there  was  much 
open  water  about  600  feet  broad.  The  experts  said  if  we 
could  get  over  at  all  it  would  be  between  noon  and  2,  after 
which  the  ice  would  pack  and  freeze  together  again.  Koreans 
and  Cossacks  worked  with  a  will,  breaking  the  ice,  digging 
under  the  boat,  and  moving  her  with  levers,  but  it  was  noon 
before  the  unwieldy  craft,  used  for  the  ferriage  of  oxen,  moved 
into  the  water,  accompanied  by  a  hearty  cheer.  She  leaked 
badly,  two  men  were  required  to  bale  her,  and  the  stern  plat- 
form, by  which  animals  enter  her,  was  carried  away.  The 
baggage  was  carried  in  by  men  wading  much  over  their  knees, 
and  then  came  the  turn  of  the  ponies,  but  not  the  whole  Rus- 
sian army  by  force  or  persuasion  could  get  those  wretched 
animals  embarked. 

After  a  whole  hour's  work  and  any  amount  of  kicking, 
plunging,  and  injuries,  from  getting  one  or  two  legs  over  the 
bulwarks,  and  struggling  back,  and  rolling  backwards  into  the 
river,  two  were  apparently  safe  in  the  ferryboat,  when  sud- 
denly they  knocked  over  the  man  who  held  them  and  jumped 
into  the  water,  one  blind  animal  being  rescued  with  difficulty, 
and  the  other  cutting  his  legs  considerably.  The  ice  was  then 
fast  forming,  but  the  soldiers  made  one  more  attempt,  which 
failed,  owing  to  what  Americans  would  not  inaptly  call  the 
"cussedness"  of  the  Siberian  ponies.  For  the  first  time  on 
any  journey  I  had  to  confess  myself  baffled,  for  it  was  impos- 
sible to  swim  the  contumacious  animals  across,  owing  to  the 
heavy  ice  floes  and  the  low  temperature  of  the  water.  I  had 
sat  on  my  pony  watching  these  proceedings  for  nearly  four 
hours,  watching  too  the  grand  Korean  mountains  as  they  swept 
down  to  the  icy  river  in  every  shade  of  cobalt  blue,  varied  by 
indigo  shadows  of  the  white  cloud  masses  which  sailed  slowly 
across  the  heavenly  sky.  At  that  point  from  which  I  most  re- 
luctantly turned  back,  the  Tumen  has  a  large  volume  of  water, 
but  above  and  below  sandbanks  render  the  navigation  so  diffi- 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  233 

cult  that  it  is  only  in  the  rainy  season  that  flat-bottomed  boats 
make  the  attempt,  and  not  always  with  success,  to  reach  the 
Korean  town  of  K'wan,  80  versts,  or  something  over  50  miles, 
above  Krasnoye  Celo.  The  Chinese,  in  the  insane  notion 
that  Japan  was  about  to  land  a  large  force  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  Tumen,  had  seized  all  the  boats  above  the  Russian  post. 

I  photographed  the  ''Russian  army"  and  the  barracks  as 
well  as  the  Boundary  Stone,  and  the  corporal  slouching  against 
the  scaly  forlorn  quarters  on  the  desolate  height  in  an  attitude 
of  extreme  dejection,  as  we  drove  away  leaving  him  to  his 
usual  dulness. 

The  days  of  the  return  journey  gave  me  a  good  opportunity 
of  learning  something  of  the  condition  of  the  Koreans  under 
another  Government  than  their  own.  So  long  ago  as  1863,  13 
families  from  Ham-gyong  Do  crossed  the  frontier  and  settled 
on  the  river  Tyzen  Ho,  a  little  to  the  north  of  Possiet  Bay. 
By  1866  there  were  100  families  there,  very  poor,  among 
which  the  Russian  Government  distributed  cattle  and  seed  for 
cultivation. 

During  1869,  a  year  of  very  great  scarcity  in  Northern 
Korea,  4,500  Koreans  migrated,  hunger-driven,  into  Pri- 
morsk,  some  3,800  of  them  being  absolutely  destitute.  These 
had  to  be  supported,  no  easy  thing,  as  the  territory,  only 
ceded  to  Russia  a  few  years  before,  was  but  a  thinly  peopled 
wilderness,  and  was  also  suffering  from  a  bad  harvest. 

In  1897  there  were  in  Primorsk  32  village  districts,  i.e.  vil- 
lages with  outlying  hamlets,  divided  into  5  administrative  dis- 
tricts. Besides  these,  one  village  belongs  to  the  city  of  Kha- 
baroffka  on  the  Amur,  and  there  are  large  Korean  settlements 
adjacent  to  Wladivostok  and  Nikolskoye.  The  total  number  of 
Korean  immigrants  is  estimated  at  from  16,000  to  18,000.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  several  thousands  of  these  were  liter- 
ally paupers,  and  that  they  subsisted  for  nearly  a  year  on  the 
charity  of  the  Russian  authorities,  and  after  that  were  indebted 
to  them  for  seed  corn.     They  settled  on  the  rich  lands  of  the 


234  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Siberian  valleys  mostly  as  squatters,  but  have  been  unmolested 
for  many  years.  Many  have  purchased  the  lands  they  occupy, 
and  in  other  cases  villages  have  acquired  community  rights  to 
their  adjacent  lands.  It  is  the  intention  of  Government  that 
squatting  shall  gradually  be  replaced  by  purchase,  the  purchas- 
ers receiving  legal  title-deeds. 

These  alien  settlers  practically  enjoy  autonomy.  At  the 
head  of  each  district  is  an  Elder  or  Headman,  with  from  one 
to  three  assistants  according  to  its  size.  The  police  and  their 
officers  are  Korean.  In  each  district  there  are  two  or  three 
judges  with  their  clerks,  who  try  minor  offences.  The  head- 
men, who  are  responsible  for  order  and  the  collection  of  taxes, 
are  paid  salaries,  or  receive  various  allowances.  All  these 
officials  are  Koreans,  and  are  elected  by  the  people  themselves 
from  among  themselves.  The  Government  taxation  is  lo 
roubles  (about  ^\)  on  each  farm  per  annum.  The  local  tax- 
ation, settled  by  the  villagers  in  council  for  their  own  pur- 
poses, such  as  roads,  ditches,  bridges,  and  schools,  is  limited 
to  3  roubles  per  farm  per  annum.  Men  who  are  not  land- 
holders pay  from  i  to  2  roubles  per  annum. 

Koreans  settled  in  Siberia  prior  to  1884  can  claim  rights  as 
Russian  subjects,  and  at  this  time  those  who  can  prove  that 
they  have  been  settled  on  purchased  lands  for  ten  years  can  do 
so,  as  well  as  certain  others,  well  reported  of  as  being  of  set- 
tled lives  and  good  conduct.  Owing  to  the  steady  influx  of 
settlers  from  Southern  Russia,  the  rich  lands  near  the  railroad 
are  required  for  colonization,  and  further  immigration  from 
Korea  has  been  prohibited.  The  sending  of  Koreans  who  are 
either  squatters  or  of  unsettled  lives  to  the  Amur  Province  is 
under  discussion. 

The  villages  between  Krasnoye  Celo  and  Nowo  Kiewsk  are 
fair  average  specimens  of  Russo-Korean  settlements.  The 
roads  are  fairly  good,  and  the  ditches  which  border  them  well 
kept.  Sanitary  rules  are  strictly  enforced,  the  headman  being 
made  responsible   for  village   cleanliness.     Unlike  the  poor, 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  235 

ragged,  filthy  villages  of  the  peninsula,  these  are  well  built  in 
Korean  style,  of  whitewashed  mud  and  laths,  trimly  thatched, 
the  compounds  or  farmyards  are  enclosed  by  whitewashed 
walls,  or  high  fences  of  neatly  woven  reeds,  and  look  as  if 
they  were  swept  every  morning,  and  the  farm  buildings  are 
substantial  and  well  kept.  Even  the  pigsties  testify  to  the 
Argus  eyes  of  the  district  chiefs  of  police. 

Most  of  the  dwellings  have  four,  five,  and  even  six  rooms, 
with  papered  walls  and  ceilings,  fretwork  doors  and  windows, 
"glazed"  with  white  translucent  paper,  finely  matted  floors, 
and  an  amount  of  plenishings  rarely  to  be  found  even  in  a 
mandarin's  house  in  Korea.  Cabinets,  bureaus,  and  rice 
chests  of  ornamental  wood  with  handsome  brass  decorations, 
low  tables,  stools,  cushions,  brass  samovars,  dressers  display- 
ing brass  dinner  services,  brass  bowls,  china,  tea-glasses,  brass 
candlesticks,  brass  kerosene  lamps,  and  a  host  of  other  things, 
illustrate  the  capacity  to  secure  comfort.  Pictures  of  the  Tsar 
and  Tsaritza,  of  the  Christ,  and  of  Greek  saints,  and  framed 
cards  of  twelve  Christian  prayers,  replace  the  coarse  daubs 
of  the  family  demons  in  very  many  houses.  Out  of  doors 
full  granaries,  ponies,  mares  with  foals,  black  pigs  of  an  im- 
proved breed,  draught  oxen,  and  fat  oxen  for  the  Wladivostok 
market,  with  ox-carts  and  agricultural  implements,  attest  solid 
material  prosperity.  It  would  be  impossible  for  a  traveller  to 
meet  with  more  cordial  hospitality  and  more  cleanly  and  com- 
fortable accommodation  than  I  did  in  these  Korean  homes. 

But  there  is  more  than  this.  The  air  of  the  men  has  under- 
gone a  subtle  but  real  change,  and  the  women,  though  they 
nominally  keep  up  their  habit  of  seclusion,  have  lost  the  hang- 
dog air  which  distinguishes  them  at  home.  The  suspicious- 
ness and  indolent  conceit,  and  the  servility  to  his  betters, 
which  characterize  the  home-bred  Korean  have  very  generally 
given  place  to  an  independence  and  manliness  of  manner 
rather  British  than  Asiatic.  The  alacrity  of  movement  is  a 
change  also,  and  has  replaced  the  conceited  swing  of  \ht  yang- 


236  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ban  and  tlie  heartless  lounge  of  the  peasant.  There  are  many 
chances  for  making  money,  and  there  is  neither  mandarin  nor 
yang-ban  to  squeeze  it  out  of  the  people  when  made,  and  com- 
forts and  a  certain  appearance  of  wealth  no  longer  attract  the 
repacious  attentions  of  officials,  but  are  rather  a  credit  to  a 
man  than  a  source  of  insecurity.  All  who  work  can  be  com- 
fortable, and  many  of  the  farmers  are  rich  and  engage  in 
trade,  making  and  keeping  extensive  contracts. 

Those  Koreans  who  are  not  settled  on  lands  chiefly  in  the 
direction  of  the  Chinese  frontier,  and  who  subsist  by  wood 
cutting  and  hauling,  are  less  well  off,  and  their  hamlets  have 
something  of  squalor  about  them. 

In  Korea  I  had  learned  to  think  of  Koreans  as  the  dregs  of 
a  race,  and  to  regard  their  condition  as  hopeless,  but  in  Pri- 
morsk  I  saw  reason  for  considerably  modifying  my  opinion. 
It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  these  people,  who  have  raised 
themselves  into  a  prosperous  farming  class,  and  who  get  an 
excellent  character  for  industry  and  good  conduct  alike  from 
Russian  police  officials,  Russian  settlers,  and  military  officers, 
were  not  exceptionally  industrious  and  thrifty  men.  They 
were  mostly  starving  folk  who  fled  from  famine,  and  their 
prosperity  and  general  demeanor  give  me  the  hope  that  their 
countrymen  in  Korea,  if  they  ever  have  an  honest  adminis- 
tration and  protection  for  their  earnings,  may  slowly  develop 
into  men. 

In  parts  of  Western  Asia  I  have  had  occasion  to  note  the 
success  of  Russian  administration  in  conquered  or  acquired 
provinces,  and  with  subject  races,  specially  her  creation  of  an 
orderly,  peaceful,  and  settled  agricultural  population  out  of 
the  nomadic  and  predatory  tribes  of  Turkestan.  Her  success 
with  the  Korean  immigrants  is  in  its  way  as  remarkable,  for 
the  material  is  inferior.  She  is  firm  where  firmness  is  neces- 
sary, but  outside  that  limit  allows  extreme  latitude,  avoids 
harassing  aliens  by  petty  prohibitions  and  irksome  rules,  en- 
courages those  forms  of  local  self-government  which  suit  the 


Korean  Settlers  in  Siberia  237 

genius  and  habits  of  different  peoples,  and  trusts  to  time,  edu- 
cation, and  contact  with  other  forms  of  civilization  to  amend 
what  is  reprehensible  in  customs,  religion,  and  costume. 

A  few  days  later  I  went  to  Hun-chun  on  the  frontier  of 
Chinese  Manchuria,  from  its  position  an  important  military 
post,  and  was  most  hospitably  received  by  the  Commandant 
and  his  married  aide-de-camp.  There,  as  everywhere  in  Pri- 
morsk,  and  from  the  civil  as  well  as  the  military  authorities,  I 
not  only  received  the  utmost  kindness,  courtesy,  and  hospital- 
ity, but  information  was  frankly  given  on  the  various  topics  I 
was  interested  in,  and  help  towards  the  attainment  of  my  ob- 
jects. Hun-chun  is  in  the  midst  of  mountainous  country,  de- 
nuded of  wood  in  recent  years,  and  abounding  in  rich,  well- 
watered  valleys  inhabited  only  by  Koreans.  A  wilder,  drear- 
ier, and  more  wind-swept  situation  it  would  be  hard  to  find. 

Instead  of  "4,000  troops"  there  were  only  200  Cossacks, 
housed  in  a  good  brick  barrack,  one-half  of  which  is  a  much 
decorated  chapel,  besides  which  there  are  only  open  thatched 
sheds  for  their  hardy,  active  Baikal  horses,  a  small,  well- 
arranged  hospital,  a  wooden  house  for  the  Colonel  Command- 
ant, and  some  terra-cotta  mud-houses  for  the  officers  and 
married  troopers.  The  whole  Russian  military  force  from 
Hun-chun  to  the  Amur  consisted  of  1,500  Cossacks,  distributed 
among  thirty  frontier  posts.  The  Commandant  told  me  that 
their  chief  duty  at  that  time  was  the  *' daily"  arresting  of 
Chinese  brigands  who  crossed  the  frontier  to  harry  the  Korean 
villages,  and  who,  on  being  marched  back  and  handed  over  to 
the  mandarins,  were  at  once  liberated  to  repeat  their  forays. 

The  Chinese  had  "massed"  several  thousand  of  their 
Manchu  troops  at  Hun-chun,  and  they  had  created  such  a 
reign  of  terror  that  the  peasant  farmers  had  deserted  their 
homes  over  a  large  area  of  country.  The  soldiers,  robbed  by 
their  officers  of  their  nominal  pay,  and  only  half  fed,  relied 
on  unlimited  pillage  for  making  up  the  deficiency,  and  neither 
women  nor  property  were  safe  from  their  brutality  and  violence. 


238 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


So  desperately  undisciplined  were  they  that  only  a  few  days 
before  the  Secretary  and  Interpreter  of  the  Russian  frontier 
Commissioner  at  Nowo  Kiewsk,  visiting  Hun-chun  on  official 
business,  narrowly  escaped  actual  violence  at  their  hands,  and 
the  Chinese  Governor  told  them  that  he  had  no  control  at  all 
over  the  troops.  It  was  only  the  rigid  discipline  of  the  Cos- 
sacks which  prevented  scrimmages  which  might  have  produced 
a  serious  conflagration. 


KOREAN  SETTLERS'  HOUSE. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE   TRANS-SIBERIAN    RAILROAD 

AFTER  returning  to  Wladivostok,  accompanied  by  a  young 
Danish  gentleman  who  was  kindly  lent  to  me  by  Messrs. 
Kuntz  and  Albers,  and  who  spoke  English  and  Russian,  I 
spent  a  week  on  the  Ussuri  Railway,  the  eastern  section  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  going  as  far  as  the  hamlet  of  Ussuri 
on  the  Ussuri  River  at  the  great  Ussuri  Bridge,  beyond  which 
the  line,  though  completed  for  50  versts,  was  not  open  for 
traffic.  Indeed,  up  to  that  point  from  Nikolskoye  trains  were 
run  twice  daily  rather  to  ''settle  the  line  "  than  for  profit,  and 
their  average  speed  was  only  twelve  miles  an  hour.  The 
weather  was  brilliant,  varied  by  a  heavy  snowstorm. 

The  present  Tsar  is  understood  to  be  enthusiastic  about  this 
railroad.  During  his  visit  to  Wladivostok  in  1891,  when 
Tsarevitch,  he  inaugurated  the  undertaking  by  wheeling  away 
the  first  barrowful  of  earth  and  placing  the  first  stone  in  posi- 
tion, after  which,  work  was  begun  simultaneously  at  both  ends. 

The  eastern  terminus  of  this  great  railroad  undertaking  is 
close  to  the  sea  and  the  Government  deep-water  pier,  at  which 
the  fine  steamers  from  Odessa  of  the  Russian  *<  Volunteer 
Fleet  "  discharge  their  cargoes.  The  station  is  large  and  very 
handsome,  and  both  it  and  the  noble  administrative  offices  are 
built  of  gray  stone,  with  the  architraves  of  the  doors  and 
windows  in  red  brick.  Buffets  and  all  else  were  in  efficient 
working  order.  In  the  winter  of  1895-96  only  third  and 
fourth  class  cars  were  running,  the  latter  chiefly  patronized  by 
Koreans  and  Chinese.  Each  third  class  carriage  is  divided 
into  three  compartments  with  a  corridor,  and  ha§  a.  lavatory 

239 


240  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  steam-heating  apparatus.  The  backs  of  the  seats  are 
hooked  up  to  form  upper  berths  for  sleeping,  and  as  the  cars 
are  eight  feet  high  they  admit  of  broad  luggage  shelves  above 
these.  The  engines  which  ran  the  traffic  were  old  American 
locomotives,  but  those  which  are  to  be  introduced,  as  well  as 
all  the  rolling  stock,  are  being  manufactured  in  the  Baltic 
provinces.  So  also  are  the  rails,  the  iron  and  steel  bridges, 
the  water  tanks,  the  iron  work  required  for  stations,  and  all 
else. 

Large  railway  workshops  with  rows  of  substantial  houses  for 
artisans  have  been  erected  at  Nikolskoye,  102  versts  from 
Wladivostok,  for  the  repairs  of  rolling  stock  on  the  Ussuri  sec- 
tion, and  were  already  in  full  activity. 

There  is  nothing  about  this  Ussuri  Railway  of  the  newness 
and  provisional  aspect  of  the  Western  American  lines,  or 
even  of  parts  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railroad.  The  track 
was  already  ballasted  as  far  as  Ussuri  (327  versts),  steel 
bridges  spanned  the  minor  streams,  and  substantial  stations 
either  of  stone  or  decorated  wood,  with  buffets  at  fixed  dis- 
tances, successfully  compare  both  in  stability  and  appearance 
with  those  of  our  English  branch  lines.  The  tank  houses  are 
of  hewn  stone.  Houses  for  the  employes,  standing  in  neatly 
fenced  gardens,  are  both  decorative  and  substantial,  being 
built  of  cement  and  logs  protected  by  five  coats  of  paint,  and 
contain  four  rooms  each.  The  crossings  are  well  laid  and 
protected.  Culverts  and  retaining  walls  are  of  solid  masonry, 
and  telegraph  wires  accompany  the  road,  which  is  worked 
strictly  on  the  block  system.  The  aspect  of  solidity  and  per- 
manence is  remarkable.  Even  the  temporary  bridge  over  the 
Ussuri,  1,050  feet  in  length,  a  trestle  bridge  of  heavy  timber 
to  resist  the  impact  of  the  ice,  is  so  massive  as  to  make  the 
great  steel  bridge,  the  handsome  abutments  of  which  were  al- 
ready built,  appear  as  if  it  would  be  a  work  of  supererogation. 

Up  to  that  point  there  are  no  serious  embankments  or  cut- 
tings, and  the  gradients  are  easy.     The  cost  of  construction 


The  Trans-Siberian  Railroad  241 

of  the  Ussuri  section  is  50,000  roubles  per  verst,  a  rouble  at 
this  time  being  worth  about  2s.  2d.  This  includes  rolling 
stock,  stations,  and  all  bridges  except  that  over  the  Amur, 
which  was  to  cost  3,000,000  roubles,  but  may  now  be  dis- 
pensed with  owing  to  the  diversion  of  the  route  through  Man- 
churia. Convict  labor  was  abandoned  in  1894,  and  the  line 
in  Primorsk  is  being  constructed  by  Chinese  "  navvies,"  who 
earn  about  80  cents  per  day,  and  who  were  bearing  the  rigor 
of  a  Siberian  winter  in  well-warmed,  semi-subterranean  huts, 
the  line  being  pushed  on  as  much  as  possible  during  the  cold 
season.  For  the  first  102  ve7-sts,  it  passes  along  prettily  wooded 
shores  of  inlets  and  banks  of  streams,  and  the  country  is  fairly 
well  peopled,  judging  from  the  number  of  sleighs  and  the 
bustle  at  the  six  stations  en  route.  The  line  as  far  as  Nikols- 
koye  was  opened  in  early  November,  1893,  and  in  a  year  had 
earned  280,000  roubles.  The  last  section  had  only  been  open 
for  eight  weeks  when  I  travelled  upon  it. 

Nikolskoye,  where  I  spent  two  pleasant  days  at  the  hospit- 
able establishment  of  Messrs.  Kuntz  and  Albers,  is  the  only 
place  between  Wladivostok  and  Ussuri  of  any  present  impor- 
tance. It  is  a  village  of  8,000  inhabitants  on  a  rich  rolling 
prairie,  watered  by  the  Siphun.  It  has  six  streets  of  grotesque 
width,  a  verst  and  a  half  long  each.  There  is  no  poverty.  It 
is  a  place  of  rapid  growth  and  prosperity,  the  centre  of  a  great 
trade  in  grain,  and  has  a  large  flour  mill  owned  by  Mr.  Lind- 
holm,  a  Government  contractor.  It  has  a  spacious  market- 
place and  bazaar,  and  two  churches.  It  reminds  me  of  parts 
of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the  houses  are  of  wood,  plastered  and 
whitewashed,  with  corrugated  iron  roofs  mainly.  A  few  are 
thatched.  All  stand  in  plots  of  garden  ground.  Utilitarian- 
ism is  supreme.  I  drove  for  20  miles  in  the  region  round  the 
settlement,  and  everywhere  saw  prosperous  farms  and  farming 
villages  on  the  prairie,  Russian  and  Korean,  and  found  the 
settlers  kindly  and  hospitable,  and  surrounded  by  material 
comfort.     Nikolskoye  is  a  great  military  station.     There  were 


242  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

infantry  and  artillery  to  the  number  of  9,000,  and  there,  as 
elsewhere,  large  new  barracks  were  being  pushed  to  completion. 
An  area  of  50  acres  was  covered  with  brick  barracks,  maga- 
zines, stables,  drill  and  parade  grounds,  and  officers'  quarters, 
and  the  military  club  is  a  really  fine  building.  Newness,  prog- 
ress, and  confidence  in  the  future  are  as  characteristic  of  Nikols- 
koye  as  of  any  rising  town  in  the  Far  West  of  America. 

The  farther  journey,  occupying  the  greater  part  of  two  days 
and  a  night,  except  when  near  the  swamps  of  the  Hanka  Lake, 
is  through  a  superb  farming  region.  Large  villages  with  wind- 
mills are  met  with  along  the  line  for  the  first  30  ve^sts,  as  far 
as  the  buffet  station  of  Spasskoje.  The  stoneless  soil,  a  rich 
loam  6  feet  and  more  in  depth,  produces  heavy  crops  of  oats, 
wheat,  barley,  maize,  rye,  potatoes,  and  tobacco.  Beyond 
Spasskoje  and  east  of  the  Hanka  Lake  up  to  the  Amur  a  mag- 
nificent region  waits  to  be  peopled. 

Well  may  Eastern  Siberia  receive  the  name  of  Russia's 
**  Pacific  Empire,"  including  as  it  does  the  Amur  and  Mari- 
time provinces,  with  their  area  of  880,000  square  miles, ^  rich 
in  gold,  copper,  iron,  lead,  and  coal,  and  with  a  soil  which 
for  a  vast  extent  is  of  unbounded  fertility.  When  China  ceded 
to  Russia  in  i860  the  region  which  we  call  Russian  Manchuria, 
she  probably  did  so  in  ignorance  of  its  vast  agricultural  capac- 
ities and  mineral  wealth. 

The  noble  Amur,  with  its  forest-covered  shores,  is  navigable 
for  1,000  miles,  and  already  50  merchant  steamers  ply  upon  it, 
and  its  great  tributary  the  Ussuri  can  be  navigated  to  within 
120  miles  of  Wladivostok.  The  great  basin  of  the  Ussuri,  it 
is  estimated,  could  support  five  million  people,  and  from  Kha- 
baroffka  to  the  Tumen,  it  is  considered  by  experts  that  the 
land  could  sustain  from  20  to  40  to  the  square  mile,  while  at 
present  the  population  of  the  Amur  and  Ussuri  provinces  is 
only  |ths  of  a  man  to  the  square  mile  ! 

iThe  area  of  France  is  204,000,  and  that  of  the  British  Isles  120,000 
square  miles. 


The  Trans-Siberian  Railroad  243 

Grass,  timber,  water,  coal,  minerals,  a  soil  as  rich  as  the 
prairies  of  Illinois,  and  a  climate  not  only  favorable  to  agri- 
culture but  to  human  health,  all  await  the  settler,  and  the 
broad,  unoccupied,  and  fertile  lands  which  Russian  Manchuria 
offers  are  clamoring  for  inhabitants.  To  set  against  these  ad- 
vantages there  are  the  frozen  waterways  and  the  ice-bound 
harbor.  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  an  increasing  population 
will  content  itself  without  an  outlet  for  its  produce.  A  port 
on  the  Pacific  open  all  the  year  is  fast  becoming  as  much  a 
commercial  as  a  political  necessity,  and  doubtless  the  opening 
of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railroad  four  years  hence  will  settle  the 
question  (if  it  has  not  been  settled  before)  and  doom  the  policy 
which  has  shut  Russia  up  in  regions  of  "  thick  ribbed  ice"  to 
utter  extinction. 

In  the  Maritime  Province,  Russia  is  steadily  and  solidly  lay- 
ing the  foundations  of  a  new  empire  which  she  purposes  to 
make  as  nearly  as  possible  a  homogeneous  one.  *'No  for- 
eigner need  apply"  !  The  emigrants,  who  are  going  out  at 
the  rate  of  from  700  to  1,000  families  a  year,  are  of  a  good 
class.  Emigration  is  fostered  in  two  ways.  By  the  first,  the 
Government  grants  assisted  passages  to  heads  of  families  who 
are  possessed  of  600  roubles  (about  ^£60  at  present),  which 
are  deposited  with  a  Government  official  at  Odessa,  and  are 
repaid  to  the  emigrant  on  landing  at  Wladivostok.  The  in- 
dustry and  thrift  represented  by  this  sum  indicate  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  best  class  of  settlers.  Under  the  second  arrange- 
ment, families  possessed  of  little  capital  or  none  receive  free 
passages.  On  arriving,  emigrants  of  both  classes  are  lodged 
in  excellent  emigrant  barracks,  and  can  buy  the  necessary 
agricultural  implements  at  cost  price  from  a  Government  depot, 
advice  as  to  the  purchase  being  thrown  in.  Each  family  re- 
ceives a  free  allotment  of  from  200  to  300  acres  of  arable  land, 
and  a  loan  of  600  roubles,  to  be  repaid  without  interest  in 
thirty-two  years,  the  young  male  colonists  being  exempted  from 
military  service  for  the  same  period.     Already  much  of  the 


244  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

land  along  the  line  as  far  as  the  Ussuri  has  been  allotted,  and 
houses  are  rapidly  springing  up,  and  there  is  nothing  to  pre- 
vent this  fine  country  from  being  peopled  up  to  the  Amur,  the 
rivers  Sungacha  and  Ussuri,  which  form  the  boundary  of  Russia 
from  the  Hanka  Lake  to  Khabaroffka,  giving  a  natural  protec- 
tion from  Chinese  brigandage.  In  addition  to  direct  emigra- 
tion, large  numbers  of  time-expired  men,  chiefly  Cossacks,  are 
encouraged  to  settle  on  lands  and  do  so. 

It  would  be  shortsighted  to  minimize  the  importance  of  the 
present  drift  of  population  to  Eastern  Siberia,  which  is  likely 
to  assume  immense  proportions  on  the  opening  of  the  railway, 
or  the  commercial  value  of  that  colossal  undertaking,  which  is 
greatly  enhanced  by  the  treaty  under  which  Russia  has  taken 
powers  to  run  the  Trans-Siberian  line  through  Chinese  Man- 
churia. The  creation  of  a  new  route  which  will  bring  the  Far 
East  within  6,000  miles  and  16  days  of  London,  and  cheapen 
the  cost  of  the  transit  of  passengers  very  considerably,  cannot 
be  overlooked  either.  The  railroad  is  being  built  for  futurity, 
and  is  an  enterprize  worthy  of  the  great  nation  which  under- 
takes it.^ 

1 1  am  very  glad  to  be  able  to  fortify  my  opinion  of  the  solid  and  care- 
ful construction  of  this  line  by  that  of  Colonel  Waters,  military  attache  to 
the  British  Embassy  at  St.  Petersburg,  who  has  recently  crossed  Siberia, 
and  desires  to  give  emphatic  testimony  to  "  the  magnificent  character  of 
the  great  railway  crossing  Siberia,"  as  well  as  by  that  of  another  recent 
traveller,  Mr.  J.  Y.  Simpson,  who,  in  Blackwood's  Magazine  for  January, 
1897,  i^  ^^  article  "  The  Great  Siberian  Iron  Road,"  after  a  long  descrip- 
tion of  the  laborious  carefulness  with  which  the  line  is  being  built,  writes 
thus :  "  Lastly,  one  is  impressed  with  the  extremely  Jinished  nature  of  the 
work." 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE   king's    oath — AN    AUDIENCE 

LEAVING  Wladivostok  by  the  last  Japanese  steamer  of  the 
season,  I  spent  two  days  at  Won-san,  little  changed,  ex- 
cept that  its  background  of  mountains  was  snow-covered,  that 
the  Koreans  were  enriched  by  the  extravagant  sums  paid  for 
labor  by  the  Japanese  during  the  war,  that  business  was  active, 
and  that  Japanese  sentries  in  wooden  sentry-boxes  guarded  the 
peaceful  streets.  Twelve  thousand  Japanese  troops  had  passed 
through  Won-san  on  their  way  to  Phyong-yang.  At  Fusan, 
my  next  point,  there  were  200  Japanese  soldiers,  new  water- 
works, and  a  military  cemetery  on  a  height,  in  which  the 
number  of  graves  showed  an  enormous  Japanese  mortality. 

Reaching  Chemulpo  on  5th  January,  1895,  via  Nagaski,  I 
found  a  singular  contrast  to  the  crowd,  bustle,  and  excitement 
of  the  previous  June.  In  the  outer  harbor  there  were  two  for- 
eign warships  only,  in  the  inner  three  Japanese  merchant 
steamers.  The  former  predominant  military  element  was 
represented  by  a  few  soldiers,  ten  large  hospital  sheds,  and  a 
crowded  cemetery,  in  which  the  Japanese  military  dead  lie  in 
rows  of  60,  each  grave  marked  by  a  wooden  obelisk.  The 
solid  and  crowded  Chinese  quarter,  with  its  roaring  trade, 
large  shops,  and  noise  of  drums,  gongs,  and  crackers,  by  day 
and  night,  was  silent  and  deserted,  and  not  a  single  Chinese 
was  in  the  street  as  I  went  up  to  I-tai's  inn.  One  shop  had 
ventured  to  reopen.  At  night,  instead  of  throngs,  noise, 
lights,  and  jollification,  there  was  a  solitary  glimmer  from  be- 
hind a  closed  shutter.  The  Japanese  occupation  had  been  as 
destructive  of  that  quarter  of  Chemulpo  as  a  mediaeval  pes- 
tilence. 

345 


246  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

In  the  Japanese  quarter  and  all  along  the  shore  the  utmost 
activity  prevailed.  The  beach  was  stacked  with  incoming  and 
outgoing  cargo.  The  streets  were  only  just  passable,  not  alone 
from  the  enormous  traffic  on  bulls'  and  coolies'  backs,  but  from 
the  piles  of  beans  and  rice  which  were  being  measured  and 
packed  on  the  roadway.  Prices  were  high,  wages  had  more 
than  doubled,  "squeezing"  was  diminished,  and  the  Koreans 
were  working  with  a  will. 

I  went  up  to  Seoul  on  horseback,  snow  falling  the  whole 
time.  So  safe  was  the  country  that  no  escort  was  needed,  and 
I  rode  as  far  as  Oricol  without  even  a  mapu.  The  halfway 
house  of  my  first  visit  was  a  Japanese  post,  and  going  to  it  in 
ignorance  of  the  change,  I  was  very  kindly  received  by  the 
Japanese  soldiers,  who  gave  me  tea  and  a  brazier  of  charcoal. 
The  Seoul  road,  pegged  out  by  Japanese  surveyors  for  a  rail- 
road, was  thickly  sprinkled  for  the  whole  distance  with  laden 
men  and  bulls. 

At  Seoul  I  was  the  guest  of  Mr.  Hillier,  the  British  Consul- 
General,  for  five  weeks.  The  weather  was  glorious,  and  the 
mercury  sank  on  two  occasions  to  7°  below  zero,  the  lowest 
temperature  on  record.  I  received  the  warmest  welcome  from 
the  kindly  foreign  community,  and  was  steeped  in  Seoul  life, 
the  political  and  other  interests  growing  upon  me  daily;  and 
having  a  pony  and  a  soldier  at  my  disposal,  I  saw  the  city  in 
all  its  turnings  and  windings,  and  the  charming  country  out- 
side the  gates,  and  several  of  the  Royal  tombs  with  their  fine 
trees,  and  avenues  of  stately  stone  figures. 

The  stagnation  of  the  previous  winter  was  at  an  end.  Japan 
was  in  the  ascendant.  She  had  a  large  garrison  in  the  capital, 
some  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Cabinet  were  her  nominees, 
her  officers  were  drilling  the  Korean  army,  changes,  if  not  im- 
provements, were  everywhere,  and  the  air  was  thick  with 
rumors  of  more  to  come.  The  King,  whose  Royal  authority 
was  nominally  restored  to  him,  accepted  the  situation,  the 
Queen  was  credited  with  intriguing  against  the  Japanese,  but 


The  King's  Oath — An  Audience  247 

Count  Inouye  was  acting  as  Japanese  minister,  and  his  firmness 
and  tact  kept  everything  smooth  on  the  surface. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1895,  I  witnessed  a  singular  cere- 
mony, which  may  have  far-reaching  results  in  Korean  history. 
The  Japanese  having  presented  Korea  with  the  gift  of  Inde- 
pendence, demanded  that  the  King  should  formally  and  pub- 
licly renounce  the  suzerainty  of  China,  and  having  resolved  to 
cleanse  the  Augean  stable  of  official  corruption,  they  com- 
pelled him  to  inaugurate  the  task  by  proceeding  in  semi-state 
to  the  Altar  of  the  Spirits  of  the  Land,  and  there  proclaiming 
Korean  independence,  and  swearing  before  the  spirits  of  his 
ancestors  to  the  proposed  reforms.  His  Majesty,  by  exagger- 
ating a  trivial  ailment,  had  for  some  time  delayed  a  step  which 
was  very  repulsive  to  him,  and  even  the  day  before  the  cere- 
mony, a  dream  in  which  an  Ancestral  Spirit  had  appeared  to 
him  adjuring  him  not  to  depart  from  ancestral  ways,  terrified 
him  from  taking  the  proposed  pledge. 

But  the  spirit  of  Count  Inouye  proved  more  masterful  than 
the  Ancestral  Spirit,  and  the  oath  was  taken  in  circumstances 
of  great  solemnity  in  a  dark  pine  wood,  under  the  shadow  of 
Puk  Han,  at  the  most  sacred  altar  in  Korea,  in  presence  of  the 
Court  and  the  dignitaries  of  the  kingdom.  Old  and  serious 
men  had  fasted  and  mourned  for  two  previous  days,  and  in  the 
vast  crowd  of  white-robed  and  black-hatted  men  which  looked 
down  upon  the  striking  scene  from  a  hill  in  the  grounds  of  the 
Mulberry  Palace,  there  was  not  a  smile  or  a  spoken  word. 
The  sky  was  dark  and  grim,  and  a  bitter  east  wind  was  blow- 
ing— ominous  signs  in  Korean  estimation. 

The  Royal  procession,  which  had  something  of  the  aspect 
of  the  kur-dong,  was  shorn  of  the  barbaric  splendor  which 
made  that  ceremonial  one  of  the  most  imposing  in  the  Eastern 
world.  It  was,  in  fact,  barbaric  with  the  splendor  left  out ; 
and  there  were  suggestions  of  a  new  era  and  a  forthcoming 
swamping  wave  of  Western  civilization,  in  the  presence  within 
the  Palace  gates  and  in  the  procession  or  a  few  trim,  dapper, 


248  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

blue-ulstered  Japanese  policemen,  as  the  special  protectors  of 
the  Home  Minister  Pak-Y6ng-Ho,  one  of  the  revolutionaries 
of  1884,  against  whom  there  was  a  vow  of  vengeance,  though 
the  King  had  been  compelled  to  pardon  him,  to  reinstate  his 
ancestors  who  had  been  degraded,  to  recall  him  from  exile, 
and  to  confer  upon  him  high  office. 

The  long  road  outside  the  Palace  was  lined  with  Korean 
cavalry,  who  turned  their  faces  to  the  wall  and  their  backs  and 
their  ponies'  tails  to  the  King.  Great  numbers  of  Korean 
soldiers  carrying  various  makes  of  muskets,  dressed  in  rusty 
black,  brown,  and  blue  cotton  uniforms,  trousers  sometimes  a 
foot  too  short,  at  others  a  foot  too  long,  white  wadded  socks, 
string  shoes,  and  black  felt  hats  of  Tyrolese  style,  with  pink 
ribbon  round  the  crowns,  stood  in  awkward  huddles,  mixed  up 
with  the  newly-created  Seoul  police  in  blue  European  uniforms, 
and  a  number  of  handsome  overfed  ponies  of  Court  officials, 
with  saddles  over  a  foot  high,  gorgeous  barbaric  trappings,  red 
pompons  on  their  heads,  and  a  flow  of  red  manes.  The 
populace  stood  without  speech  or  movement. 

After  a  long  delay  and  much  speculation  as  to  whether  the 
King  at  the  last  moment  would  resist  the  foreign  pressure,  the 
procession  emerged  from  the  Palace  gate — huge  flags  on  trident- 
headed  poles,  purple  bundles  carried  aloft,  a  stand  of  stones 
conveyed  with  much  ceremony  ^ — groups  of  scarlet-  and  blue- 
robed  men  in  hats  of  the  same  colors,  shaped  like  fools'  caps, 
the  King's  personal  servants  in  yellow  robes  and  yellow  bam- 
boo hats,  and  men  carrying  bannerets.  Then  came  the  red 
silk  umbrella,  followed  not  by  the  magnificent  State  chair  with 
its  forty  bearers,  but  by  a  plain  wooden  chair  with  glass  sides, 
in  which  sat  the  sovereign,  pale  and  dejected,  borne  by  only 
four  men.  The  Crown  Prince  followed  in  a  similar  chair. 
Mandarins,  ministers,  and  military  officers  were  then  assisted 
to  mount  their  caparisoned  ponies,  and  each,  with  two  attend- 

•  These  are  ancient  musical  instruments  called  by  the  Chinese  ckHng^ 
and  were  in  use  at  courts  in  the  days  of  Confucius. 


J 


KOREAN  THRONE. 


The  King's  Oath — An  Audience  249 

ants  holding  his  stirrups  and  two  more  leading  his  pony,  fell 
in  behind  the  Honcie  Minister,  riding  a  dark  donkey,  and  ren- 
dered conspicuous  by  his  foreign  saddle  and  foreign  guard. 
When  the  procession  reached  the  sacred  enclosure,  the  mili- 
tary escort  and  the  greater  part  of  the  cavalcade  remained  out- 
side the  wall,  only  the  King,  dignitaries,  and  principal  at- 
tendants proceeding  to  the  altar.  The  grouping  of  the  scarlet- 
robed  men  under  the  dark  pines  was  most  effective  from  an 
artistic  point  of  view,  and  from  a  political  standpoint  the 
taking  of  the  following  oath  by  the  Korean  King  was  one 
of  the  most  significant  acts  in  the  tedious  drama  of  the  late 
war. 

THE   king's   oath. 

On  this  1 2th  day  of  the  12th  moon  of  the  503rd  year  of  the  founding 
of  the  Dynasty,  we  presume  to  announce  clearly  to  the  Spirits  of  all  our 
Sacred  Imperial  Ancestors  that  we,  their  lowly  descendant,  received  in 
early  childhood,  now  thirty  and  one  years  ago,  the  mighty  heritage  of  our 
ancestors,  and  that  in  reverent  awe  towards  Heaven,  and  following  in  the 
rule  and  pattern  of  our  ancestors,  we,  though  we  have  encountered  many 
troubles,  have  not  loosed  hold  of  the  thread.  How  dare  we,  your  lowly 
descendant,  aver  that  we  are  acceptable  to  the  heart  of  Heaven  ?  It  is 
only  that  our  ancestors  have  graciously  looked  down  upon  us  and  be- 
nignly protected  us.  Splendidly  did  our  ancestor  lay  the  foundation  of 
our  Royal  House,  opening  a  way  for  us  his  descendants  through  five  hun- 
dred years  and  three.  Now,  in  our  generation,  the  times  are  mightily 
changed,  and  men  and  matters  are  expanding.  A  friendly  Power,  design- 
ing to  prove  faithful,  and  the  deliberations  of  our  Council  aiding  thereto, 
show  that  only  as  an  independent  ruler  can  we  make  our  country  strong. 
How  can  we,  your  lowly  descendant,  not  conform  to  the  spirit  of  the  time 
and  thus  guard  the  domain  bequeathed  by  our  ancestors?  How  venture 
not  to  strenuously  exert  ourselves  and  stiffen  and  anneal  us  in  order  to  add 
lustre  to  the  virtues  of  our  predecessors.  For  all  time  from  now  no  other 
State  will  we  lean  upon,  but  will  make  broad  the  steps  of  our  country  to- 
wards prosperity,  building  up  the  happiness  of  our  people  in  order  to 
strengthen  the  foundations  of  our  independence.  When  we  ponder  on 
this  course,  let  there  be  no  sticking  in  the  old  ways,  no  practice  of  ease 
or  of  dalliance ;  but  docilely  let  us  carry  out  the  great  designs  of  our  an- 


250  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

cestors,  watching  and  observing  sublunary  conditions,  reforming  our  in- 
ternal administration,  remedying  there  accumulated  abuses. 

We,  your  lowly  descendant,  do  now  take  the  fourteen  clauses  of  the 
Great  Charter  and  swear  before  the  Spn-its  of  our  Ancestors  in  Heaven 
that  we,  reverently  trusting  in  the  merits  bequeathed  by  our  ancestors, 
will  bring  these  to  a  successful  issue,  nor  will  we  dare  to  go  back  on  our 
word.     Do  you,  bright  Spirits,  descend  and  behold  ! 

1.  All  thoughts  of  dependence  on  China  shall  be  cut  away,  and  a  firm 
foundation  for  independence  secured. 

2.  A  rule  and  ordinance  for  the  Royal  House  shall  be  established,  in 
order  to  make  clear  the  line  of  succession  and  precedence  among  the 
Royal  family. 

3.  The  King  shall  attend  at  the  Great  Hall  for  the  inspection  of  affairs, 
where,  after  personally  interrogating  his  Ministers,  he  shall  decide  upon 
matters  of  State.  The  Queen  and  the  Royal  family  are  not  allowed  to 
interfere. 

4.  Palace  matters  and  the  government  of  the  country  must  be  kept 
separate,  and  may  not  be  mixed  up  together. 

5.  The  duties  and  powers  of  the  Cabinet  and  of  the  various  Ministers 
shall  be  clearly  defined. 

6.  The  payment  of  taxes  by  the  people  shall  be  regulated  by  law. 
Wrongful  additions  may  not  be  made  to  the  list,  and  no  excess  collected. 

7.  The  assessment  and  collection  of  the  land  tax,  and  the  disbursement 
of  expenditure,  shall  be  under  the  charge  and  control  of  the  Finance  De- 
partment. 

8.  The  expenses  of  the  Royal  household  shall  be  the  first  to  be  reduced, 
by  way  of  setting  an  example  to  the  various  Ministries  and  local  offi- 
cials. 

9.  An  estimate  shall  be  drawn  up  in  advance  each  year  of  the  expen- 
diture of  the  Royal  household  and  the  various  official  establishments, 
putting  on  a  firm  foundation  the  management  of  the  revenue. 

10.  The  regulations  of  the  local  officers  must  be  revised  in  order  to 
discriminate  the  functions  of  the  local  officials. 

11.  Young  men  of  intelligence  in  the  country  shall  be  sent  abroad  in 
order  to  study  foreign  science  and  industries. 

12.  The  instruction  of  army  officers,  and  the  practice  of  the  methods 
of  enlistment,  to  secure  the  foundation  of  a  military  system. 

13.  Civil  law  and  criminal  law  must  be  strictly  and  clearly  laid  down; 
none  must  be  imprisoned  or  fined  in  excess,  so  that  security  of  life  and 
property  may  be  ensured  for  all  alike. 


The   King's  Oath— An  Audience  251 

14.  Men  shall  be  employed  without  regard  to  their  origin,  and  in  seek- 
ing for  officials  recourse  shall  be  had  to  capital  and  country  alike  in  order 
to  widen  the  avenues  for  ability. 

Official  translation  of  the  text  of  the  oath  taken  by  His 
Majesty  the  King  of  Korea,  at  the  Altar  of  Heaven, 
Seoul,  on  January  8,  1895. 

Though  at  this  date  Korea  is  being  reformed  under  other 
than  Japanese  auspices,  it  is  noteworthy  that  nearly  every  step 
in  advance  is  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Japan. 

Count  Inouye  is  reported  by  the  Nichi  Nichi  Shimbun  to 
have  said  regarding  Korea,  ''In  my  eyes  there  were  only  the 
Royal  Family  and  the  nation."  Such  a  conclusion  was  legit- 
imate in  the  early  part  of  1895,  and  in  arriving  at  it  as  I  did 
I  am  glad  to  be  sheltered  by  such  an  unexceptionable  au- 
thority. .     . 

Hence  it  was  with  real  pleasure  that  I  received  an  invitation 
from  the  Queen  to  a  private  audience,  to  which  I  was  accom- 
panied by  Mrs.  Underwood,  an  American  medical  missionary 
and  the  Queen's  physician  and  valued  friend.  Mr.  Hillier 
sent  me  to  the  Kyeng-pok  Palace  in  an  eight-bearer  official 
chair,  escorted  by  the  Korean  Legation  Guard.  I  have  been 
altogether  six  times  at  this  palace,  and  always  with  increased 
wonder  at  its  intricacy,  and  admiration  of  its  quaintness  and 

beauty. 

Entering  by  a  grand  three-arched  gateway  with  its  stone- 
balustraded  stone  staircase,  and  stone  lions  on  stone  pedestals 
below,  one  is  bewildered  by  the  number  of  large  flagged  court- 
yards, huge  audience-halls,  pavilions,  buildings  of  all  descrip- 
tions more  or  less  decorated,  stone  bridges,  narrow  passages, 
and  gateways  with  double  tiered  carved  roofs  through  and 
among  which  one  passes.  A  Japanese  policeman  was  at  the 
grand  gate.  At  each  of  the  interior  gates,  and  there  are 
many,  there  were  six  Korean  sentries  lounging,  who  pulled 
themselves  together  as  we  approached  and  presented  arms  ! 
What  with  800  troops,  1,500  attendants  and  officials  of  all  de- 


252  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

scriptions,  courtiers  and  ministers  and  their  attendants,  secre- 
taries, messengers,  and  hangers-on,  the  vast  enclosure  of  the 
Palace  seemed  as  crowded  and  populated  as  the  city  itself. 
We  had  nearly  half  a  mile  of  buildings  to  pass  through  before 
we  reached  a  very  pretty  artificial  lake  with  a  decorative  island 
pavilion  in  the  centre,  near  which  are  a  foreign  palace,  built 
not  long  before,  and  the  simple  Korean  buildings  then  occu- 
pied by  the  King  and  Queen,  Alighting  at  the  gateway  of 
the  courtyard  which  led  to  the  Queen's  house,  we  were  re- 
ceived by  the  Court  interpreter,  a  number  of  eunuchs,  tw^o  of 
the  Queen's  ladies-in-waiting,  and  her  nurse,  who  was  at  the 
head  of  the  Palace  ladies — a  very  privileged  person,  middle- 
aged,  with  decidedly  fine  features. 

In  a  simple  room  hung  with  yellow  silk  we  were  entertained 
in  courteous  fashion  with  coffee  and  cake  on  arriving,  and 
afterwards  at  dinner,  the  nurse,  "supported"  by  the  Court 
interpreter,  taking  the  head  of  the  very  prettily  decorated 
table.  The  dinner  was  admirably  cooked  in  "  foreign  style," 
and  included  soup,  fish,  quails,  wild  duck,  pheasant,  stuffed 
and  rolled  beef,  vegetables,  creams,  glace  walnuts,  fruit,  claret, 
and  coffee.  Several  of  the  Court  ladies  and  others  sat  at  table 
with  us.  After  this  long  delay  we  were  ushered,  accompanied 
only  by  the  interpreter,  into  a  small  audience-room,  upon  the 
dais  at  one  end  of  which  stood  the  King,  the  Crown  Prince, 
and  the  Queen  in  front  of  three  crimson  velvet  chairs,  which, 
after  Mrs.  Underwood  had  presented  me,  they  resumed  and 
asked  us  to  be  seated  on  two  chairs  which  were  provided. 

Her  Majesty,  who  was  then  past  forty,  was  a  very  nice- 
looking  slender  woman,  with  glossy  raven-black  hair  and  a 
very  pale  skin,  the  pallor  enhanced  by  the  use  of  pearl  pow- 
der. The  eyes  were  cold  and  keen,  and  the  general  expression 
one  of  brilliant  intelligence.  She  wore  a  very  handsome,  very 
full,  and  very  long  skirt  of  mazarine  blue  brocade,  heavily 
pleated,  with  the  waist  under  the  arms,  and  a  full  sleeved 
bodice  of  crimson  and  blue  brocade,  clasped  at  the  throat  by 


The  King's  Oath — An  Audience         253 

a  coral  rosette,  and  girdled  by  six  crimson  and  blue  cords, 
each  one  clasped  with  a  coral  rosette,  with  a  crimson  silk  tassel 
hanging  from  it.  Her  headdress  was  a  crownless  black  silk 
cap  edged  with  fur,  pointed  over  the  brow,  with  a  coral  rose 
and  full  red  tassel  in  front,  and  jewelled  aigrettes  on  either 
side.  Her  shoes  were  of  the  same  brocade  as  her  dress.  As 
soon  as  she  began  to  speak,  and  especially  when  she  became 
interested  in  conversation,  her  face  lighted  up  into  something 
very  like  beauty. 

The  King  is  short  and  sallow,  certainly  a  plain  man,  wear- 
ing a  thin  moustache  and  a  tuft  on  the  chin.  He  is  nervous 
and  twitches  his  hands,  but  his  pose  and  manner  are  not 
without  dignity.  His  face  is  pleasing,  and  his  kindliness  of 
nature  is  well  known.  In  conversation  the  Queen  prompted 
him  a  good  deal.  He  and  the  Crown  Prince  were  dressed 
alike  in  white  leather  shoes,  wadded  silk  socks,  and  volumin- 
ous wadded  white  trousers.  Over  these  they  wore  first,  white 
silk  tunics,  next  pale  green  ones,  and  over  all  sleeveless  dresses 
of  mazarine  blue  brocade.  The  whole  costume,  being  exquis- 
itively  fresh,  was  pleasing.  On  their  heads  they  wore  hats  and 
mang-hinis  of  very  fine  horsehair  gauze,  with  black  silk  hoods 
bordered  with  fur,  for  the  mercury  stood  at  5°  below  zero. 
The  Crown  Prince  is  fat  and  flabby,  and  though  unfortunately 
very  near-sighted,  etiquette  forbids  him  to  wear  spectacles, 
and  at  that  time  he  produced  on  every  one  as  on  me  the  im- 
pression of  being  completely  an  invalid.  He  was  the  only 
son  and  the  idol  of  his  mother,  who  lived  in  ceaseless  anxiety 
about  his  health,  and  in  dread  lest  the  son  of  a  concubine 
should  be  declared  heir  to  the  throne.  To  this  cause  must  be 
attributed  several  of  her  unscrupulous  acts,  her  invoking  the 
continual  aid  of  sorcerers,  and  her  always  increasing  benefac- 
tions to  the  Buddhist  monks.  During  much  of  the  audience 
mother  and  son  sat  with  clasped  hands. 

After  the  Queen  had  said  many  kind  things  to  me  person- 
ally, showing  herself  quick-witted  as  well  as  courteous,  she 


254  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

said  something  to  the  King,  who  immediately  took  up  the  con- 
versation and  continued  it  for  another  half-hour.  At  the  close 
of  the  audience  I  asked  leave  to  photograph  the  Lake  Pavilion, 
and  the  King  said,  •'  Why  that  alone?  come  many  days  and 
photograph  many  things,"  mentioning  several;  and  he  added, 
"  I  should  like  you  to  be  suitably  attended."  We  then 
curtseyed  ourselves  out,  after  a  very  agreeable  and  interesting 
hour,  and  as  it  was  dusk,  the  King  sent  soldiers  with  us,  and  a 
number  of  lantern-bearers,  with  floating  drapery  of  red  and 
green  silk  gauze. 

Two  days  later  the  ''suitable  attendance"  turned  out  to  be 
an  unwieldy  and  embarrassing  crowd,  consisting  of  five  military 
officers,  half  a  regiment  of  soldiers,  and  a  number  of  Palace 
attendants  !  I  was  greatly  impressed  by  a  certain  grandeur 
and  stateliness  in  the  buildings,  the  vast  Hall  of  Audience 
resting  on  a  much  elevated  terrace  ascended  by  a  triple  flight 
of  granite  stairs,  the  noble  proportions  of  the  building,  the 
richly  carved  ceiling  with  its  manifold  reticulations,  painted 
red,  blue,  and  green,  the  colossal  circular  pillars,  red  with 
white  bases,  and  in  the  dimness  of  the  vast  area  fronting  the 
entrance,  the  shadowy  splendor  of  the  Korean  throne.  Grand, 
too,  in  its  simplicity  and  solidity,  is  the  Summer  Palace  or 
"Hall  of  Congratulations,"  on  a  stone  platform  approached 
by  three  granite  bridges,  in  a  lotus  lake  of  oblong  form  beauti- 
fied conventionally  with  two  stone-faced  islands,  and  by  a 
broad  flagged  promenade  carried  the  whole  way  round  it  on  a 
stone-faced  embankment.  This  palace  is  a  noble  building. 
The  upper  hall,  with  its  vast  sweeping  roof,  is  supported  on 
forty-eight  granite  pillars  i6  feet  in  height  and  3  feet  square 
at  the  base — all  monoliths.  The  situation  and  the  views  are 
beautiful. 

During  the  next  three  weeks  I  had  three  more  audiences,  on 
the  second  being  accompanied  as  before  by  Mrs.  Underwood, 
the  third  being  a  formal  reception,  and  the  fourth  a  strictly 
private  interview,  lasting  over  an  hour.     On  each  occasion  I 


The  King's  Oath — An  Audience  255 

was  impressed  with  the  grace  and  charming  manner  of  the 
Queen,  her  thoughtful  kindness,  her  singular  intelligence  and 
force,  and  her  remarkable  conversational  power  even  through 
the  medium   of  an  interpreter.     I  was  not  surprised  at  her 
singular  political  influence,  or  her  sway  over  the  King  and 
many  others.     She  was  surrounded  by  enemies,  chief  among 
them  being  the  Tai-Won-Kun,  the  King's  father,  all  embittered 
against  her  because  by  her  talent  and  force  she  had  succeeded 
in  placing  members  of  her  family  in  nearly  all  the  chief  offices 
of  State.     Her  life  was  a  battle.     She  fought  with  all  her 
charm,  shrewdness,  and  sagacity  for  power,  for  the  dignity 
and  safety  of  her  husband  and  son,  and  for  the  downfall  of  the 
Tai-Won-Kun.     She  had  cut  short  many  lives,  but  in  doing  so 
she  had  not  violated  Korean  tradition  and  custom,  and  some 
excuse  for  her  lies  in  the  fact  that  soon  after  the  King's  ac- 
cession his  father  sent  to  the  house  of  Her  Majesty's  brother  an 
infernal  machine  in  the  shape  of  a  beautiful  box,  which  on  be- 
ing opened  exploded,  killing  her  mother,  brother,  and  nephew, 
as  well  as  some  others.     Since   then  he  plotted  against  her 
own  life,  and  the  feud  between  them  was  usually  at  fever  heat. 
The    dynasty   is   worn    out,  and   the   King,  with   all   his 
amiability  and  kindness  of  heart,  is  weak  in  character  and  is 
at  the  mercy  of  designing  men,  as  has  appeared  increasingly 
since  the  strong  sway  of  the  Queen  was  withdrawn.     I  believe 
him  to  be  at  heart,  according  to  his  lights,  a  patriotic  sovereign. 
Far  from  standing  in  the  way  of  reform,  he  has  accepted  most 
of  the  suggestions  offered  to  him.     But  unfortunately  for  a  man 
whose  edicts  become  the  law  of  the  land,  and  more  unfortu- 
nately for  the  land,  he  is  persuadable  by  the  last  person  who  gets 
his  ear,  he  lacks  backbone  and  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  many 
of  the  best  projects  of  reform  become  abortive  through  his 
weakness  of  will.     To  substitute  constitutional  restraints  for 
absolutism  would  greatly  mend  matters,  but  cela  va  sans  dire 
this  could  only  be  successful  under  foreign  initiative. 

The  King  was  forty-three,  the  Queen  a  little  older.     During 


256  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

his  minority,  and  while  he  was  receiving  the  usual  Chinese 
education,  his  father,  the  Tai-Won-Kun,  who  is  described  by 
a  Korean  writer  as  having  "  bowels  of  iron  and  a  heart  of 
stone,"  ruled  as  Regent  with  excessive  vigor  for  ten  years,  and 
in  1866  put  2,000  Korean  Catholics  slaughtered.  Able, 
rapacious,  and  unscrupulous,  his  footsteps  have  always  been 
blood-stained.  He  even  put  to  death  one  of  his  own  sons. 
From  the  time  when  his  Regency  ceased  until  the  murder  of 
the  Queen,  Korean  political  history  is  mainly  the  story  of  the 
deadly  feud  between  the  Queen  and  her  clan  and  the  Tai- 
Won-Kun.  I  was  presented  to  him  at  the  Palace,  and  was 
much  impressed  by  the  vitality  and  energy  of  his  expression, 
his  keen  glance,  and  the  vigor  of  his  movements,  though  he  is 
an  old  man. 

The  King's  expression  is  gentle.  He  has  a  wonderful  mem- 
ory, and  is  said  to  know  Korean  history  so  well  that  when  any 
question  as  to  fact  or  former  custom  arises  he  can  give  full  par- 
ticulars, with  a  precise  reference  to  the  reign  in  which  any 
historic  event  occurred  and  to  the  date.  The  office  of  Royal 
Reader  is  not  a  sinecure,  and  the  Royal  Library,  which  is  con- 
tained in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  buildings  of  the  Kyeng-pok 
Palace,  is  a  very  extensive  one  in  Chinese  literature.  He  has 
no  anti-foreign  feeling.  His  friendliness  to  foreigners  is 
marked,  and  in  his  manifold  perils  he  has  frankly  relied  upon 
their  aid.  At  the  time  of  my  second  visit,  when  Japan  was  in 
the  ascendant,  the  King  and  Queen  showed  special  attention 
and  kindness  to  Europeans,  and  even  invited  the  whole  for- 
eign community  to  a  skating  party  on  the  lake.  The  King's 
attitude  towards  Christian  Missions  is  very  friendly,  and  toler- 
ation is  a  reality.  The  American  medical  attendants  of  both 
the  King  and  Queen,  as  well  as  other  foreigners,  with  whom 
they  were  in  constant  contact,  were  warmly  attached  to  them, 
and  I  think  that  the  general  feeling  among  Koreans  is  one  of 
affectionate  loyalty,  the  blame  for  oppressive  and  mistaken 
actions  being  laid  on  the  ministers. 


The  Kinp^'s  Oath — An  Audience 


'to 


257 


1  have  dwelt  so  long  on  the  King's  personality  because  he  is 
de  facto  the  Korean  Government,  and  not  a  mere  figure-head, 
as  there  is  no  constitution,  written  or  unwritten,  no  repre- 
sentative assembly,  and  it  may  be  said  no  law  except  his  pub- 
lished Edicts.  He  is  extremely  industrious  as  a  ruler,  ac- 
quaints himself  with  all  the  work  of  departments,  receives  and 
attends  to  an  infinity  of  reports  and  memorials,  and  concerns 
himself  with  all  that  is  done  in  the  name  of  Government.  It 
is  often  said  that  in  close  attention  to  detail  he  undertakes 
more  than  any  one  man  could  perform.  At  the  same  time  he 
has  not  the  capacity  for  getting  a  general  grip  of  affairs.  He 
has  so  much  goodness  of  heart  and  so  much  sympathy  with 
progressive  ideas,  that  if  he  had  more  force  of  character  and 
intellect,  and  were  less  easily  swayed  by  unworthy  men,  he 
might  make  a  good  sovereign,  but  his  weakness  of  character  is 
fatal. 

The  subjects  of  conversation  introduced  at  three  of  my  audi- 
ences not  only  showed  an  intelligent  desire  for  such  informa- 
tion as  might  be  serviceable,  but  reflected  the  reforms  which 
the  Japanese  were  pressing  on  the  King.  I  was  very  closely 
questioned  as  to  what  I  had  seen  of  China  and  Siberia,  as  to 
the  Siberian  and  Japanese  railroads,  cost  of  construction  per 
//,  as  to  the  popular  feeling  in  Japan  concerning  the  war,  etc. 
Again  I  was  catechised  as  to  the  avenues  to  official  employ- 
ment in  England,  the  possibility  of  men  '*not  of  the  noble 
class "'  reaching  high  positions  in  the  Government,  the  position 
of  the  English  nobility  with  regard  to  ''  privileges,"  and  their 
attitude  to  inferiors.  On  one  day  the  whole  attention  of  the 
King  and  Queen  was  concentrated  on  the  relations  between 
the  English  Crown  and  the  Cabinet,  specially  with  regard  to 
the  Civil  List,  on  which  the  King's  questions  were  so  numer- 
ous and  persistent  as  very  nearly  to  pose  me.  He  was  spe- 
cially anxious  to  know  if  the  "  Finance  Minister"  (the  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer,  I  suppose)  exercised  any  control  over 
the  personal  expenditure  of  Her  Majesty,  and  if  the  Queen's 


258  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

personal  accounts  were  paid  by  herself  or  through  the  Treas- 
ury. The  affairs  under  the  control  of  each  Secretary  of  State 
were  the  subject  of  another  series  of  questions. 

Many  queries  were  about  the  duties  of  the  Home  Minister, 
the  position  of  the  Premier,  and  his  relations  with  the  other 
Ministers  and  the  Crown.  He  was  very  anxious  to  know  if 
the  Queen  could  dismiss  her  Ministers  if  they  failed  to  carry 
out  her  wishes,  and  it  was  impossible  to  explain  to  him 
through  an  interpreter,  to  whom  the  ideas  were  unfamiliar, 
the  constitutional  checks  on  the  Englisli  Crown,  and  that  the 
sovereign  only  nominally  possesses  the  right  of  choosing  her 
Ministers. 

Just  before  I  left  Korea,  I  was  summoned  to  a  farewell  audi- 
ence, and  asked  to  take  the  Legation  interpreter  with  me.  I 
went  in  an  eight-bearer  chair,  and  was  received  with  the  usual 
honors,  soldiers  presenting  arms,  etc  !  There  was  no  crowd 
of  attendants  and  no  delay.  As  I  was  being  escorted  down  a 
closed  veranda  by  several  eunuchs  and  military  officers,  a  slid- 
ing window  was  opened  by  the  King,  who  beckoned  to  me  to 
enter,  and  then  closed  it.  I  found  myself  in  the  raised  alcove 
in  which  the  Royal  Family  usually  sat,  but  the  sliding  panels 
between  it  and  the  audience-chamber  were  closed,  and  as  it  is 
not  more  than  6  feet  wide,  it  was  impossible  to  make  the  cus- 
tomary profound  curtseys.  Instead  of  the  usual  throng  of  at- 
tendants, eunuchs,  ladies-in-waiting  in  silk  gowns  a  yard  too 
long  for  them,  and  heavy  coils  and  pillows  of  artificial  hair  on 
their  heads,  and  privileged  persons  standing  behind  the  King 
and  Queen  and  crowding  the  many  doorways,  there  were 
present  only  the  Queen's  nurse  and  my  interpreter,  who  stood 
at  a  chink  between  the  panels  where  he  could  not  see  the 
Queen,  bent  into  an  attitude  of  abject  reverence,  never  lifting 
his  eyes  from  the  ground  or  raising  his  voice  above  a  whisper. 
The  precautions,  however,  failed  to  secure  the  privacy  which 
the  King  and  Queen  desired.  I  was  certain  that  through  the 
chink  I  saw  the  shadow  of  a  man  in  the  audience-room,  and 


The  King's  Oath — An  Audience  259 

the  interpreter's  subsequent  remark,  ''  It  was  very  hard  for  me 
to  interpret  for  His  Majesty  to-day"  was  intelligible  when  I 
heard  that  the  ''shadow  "  belonged  to  one  of  the  Ministers  of 
State  specially  distrusted  by  the  King,  and  who  later  had  to  fly 
from  Korea.  It  was  understood  that  this  person  carried  the 
substance  of  what  the  King  and  Queen  said  to  a  foreign  le- 
gation. 

I  cannot  here  allude  to  the  matter  on  which  the  King  spoke, 
but  the  audience,  which  lasted  for  an  hour,  was  an  extremely 
interesting  one.  On  one  point  the  King  expressed  himself 
very  strongly,  as  he  has  done  to  many  others.  He  considers 
that  now  that  Korea  is  formally  independent  of  China,  she  is 
entitled  to  a  Resident  Minister  accredited  solely  to  the  Korean 
Court.  He  expressed  great  regard  and  esteem  for  Mr.  Hillier, 
and  said  that  nothing  would  be  more  acceptable  to  him  than 
his  appointment  as  the  first  Minister  to  Korea. 

The  Queen  spoke  of  Queen  Victoria,  and  said,  ''She  has 
everything  that  she  can  wish— greatness,  wealth,  and  power. 
Her  sons  and  grandsons  are  kings  and  emperors,  and  her 
daughters  empresses.  Does  she  ever  in  her  glory  think  of  poor 
Korea?  She  does  so  much  good  in  the  world,  her  life  is  a 
good.  AVe  wish  her  long  life  and  prosperity  "  ;  to  which  the 
King  added,  "England  is  our  best  friend."  It  was  really 
touching  to  hear  the  occupants  of  that  ancient  but  shaky 
throne  speaking  in  this  fashion. 

On  this  occasion  the  Queen  was  dressed  in  a  bodice  of 
brocaded  amber  satin,  a  mazarine  blue  brocaded  trained  skirt, 
a  crimson  girdle  with  five  clasps  and  tassels  of  coral,  and  a 
coral  clasp  at  the  throat.  Her  head  was  uncovered,  and  her 
abundant  black  hair  gathered  into  a  knot  at  the  back.  She 
wore  no  ornament  except  a  pearl  and  coral  jewel  on  the  top  of 
the  head.  The  King  and  Queen  rose  when  I  took  leave,  and 
the  Queen  shook  hands.  They  both  spoke  most  kindly,  and 
expressed  the  wish  that  I  should  return  and  see  more  of  Korea. 
When  I  did  return  nine  months  later,  the  Queen  had  been 


26o 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


barbarously  murdered,  and  the  King  was  practically  a  prisoner 
in  his  own  palace. 

Travellers  received  by  the  Korean  King  have  often  ridiculed 
the  audience,  the  surroundings,  and  the  Palace.  I  must  say 
that  I  saw  nothing  to  ridicule,  unless  national  customs  and  eti- 
quette varying  from  our  own  are  necessarily  ridiculous.  On 
the  contrary,  there  were  a  simplicity,  dignity,  kindliness, 
courtesy,  and  propriety  which  have  left  a  very  agreeable  im- 
pression on  me,  and  my  four  audiences  at  Palace  were  the 
great  feature  of  my  second  visit  to  Korea. 


KOREAN  GENTLEMAN  IN  COURT  DRESS. 


CHAPTER  XXII 

A   TRANSITION    STAGE 

DURING  January,  1895,  Seoul  was  in  a  curious  condition. 
The  "old  order"  was  changing,  but  the  new  had  not 
taken  its  place.  The  Japanese,  victorious  by  land  and  sea, 
were  in  a  position  to  enforce  the  reforms  in  which  before  the 
war  they  had  asked  China  to  cooperate.  The  King,  since 
the  capture  of  the  Palace  by  the  Japanese  in  July,  1 894,  had 
become  little  more  than  a  "salaried  automaton,"  and  the 
once  powerful  members  of  the  Min  clan  had  been  expelled 
from  their  offices.  The  Japanese  were  prepared  to  accept  the 
responsibility  of  the  supervision  of  all  departments,  and  to 
enforce  honesty  on  a  corrupt  executive.  The  victory  over 
the  Chinese  at  Phyong-yang  on  17th  September,  1894,  had  set 
them  free  to  carry  out  their  purposes.  Count  Inouye,  one 
of  the  foremost  of  the  statesmen  who  created  the  new  Japan, 
arrived  as  "Resident"  on  October  20,  1894,  and  practically 
administered  the  Government  in  the  King's  name.  There 
were  Japanese  controllers  in  all  the  departments,  the  army 
was  drilled  by  Japanese  drill  instructors,  a  police  force  was 
organized  and  clothed  in  badly  fitting  Japanese  uniforms,  a 
Council  of  Koreans  was  appointed  to  draft  a  scheme  of  re- 
form, and  form  the  nucleus  of  a  possible  Korean  Parliament, 
and  Count  Inouye  as  Japanese  adviser  had  the  right  of  con- 
tinual access  to  the  King,  and  with  an  interpreter  and  sten- 
ographer sat  at  the  meetings  of  the  Cabinet.  Every  day 
Japanese  ascendency  was  apparent  in  new  appointments, 
regulations,  abolitions,  and  reforms.  The  Japanese  claimed 
that  their  purpose  was  to  reform  the  administration  of  Korea 

261 


262  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

as  we  had  done  that  of  Egypt,  and  I  believe  they  would  have 
done  it  had  they  been  allowed  a  free  hand.  It  was  apparent, 
however,  that  Count  Inouye  found  the  task  of  reformation  a 
far  harder  one  than  he  expected,  and  that  the  difficulties  in 
his  way  were  nearly  insurmountable.  He  said  himself  that 
there  were  *'  no  tools  to  work  with,"  and  in  the  hope  of  manu- 
facturing them  a  large  number  of  youths  of  the  upper  class 
were  sent  for  two  years  to  Japan,  one  year  to  be  spent  in 
education  and  another  in  learning  accuracy  and  ''the  first 
principles  of  honor"  in  certain  Government  departments. 

Sundry  Japanese  demands,  though  conceded  at  the  time  by 
the  King,  had  been  allowed  to  drop,  and  it  was  not  till  De- 
cember, 1894,  that  Count  Inouye  obtained  a  formal  covenant 
that  five  of  them  should  be  at  once  carried  out.  (i)  A  full 
pardon  for  all  the  conspirators  of  1884 ;  (2)  That  the  Tai- 
VVon-Kun  and  the  Queen  should  interfere  no  more  in  public 
affairs;  (3)  That  no  relatives  of  the  Royal  Family  should  be 
employed  in  any  official  capacity ;  (4)  That  the  number  of 
eunuchs  and  "Palace  ladies"  should  at  once  be  reduced  to  a 
minimum;  (5)  That  caste  distinctions — patrician  and  plebeian 
— should  no  longer  be  recognized. 

Edicts  on  some  of  the  foregoing  subjects  appeared  in  the 
Gazette,  and  large  numbers  of  the  eunuchs  packed  up  their 
clothes  and  left  the  Palace  quietly  in  the  night,  along  with  the 
"Palace  ladies";  but  the  King  in  his  vast  dwelling  was  so 
lonely  without  them  that  the  next  morning  he  sent  an  order 
commanding  their  immediate  return  under  serious  penalties, 
and  it  was  obeyed  at  once  ! 

The  attitude  of  the  Korean  official  class,  with  the  exception 
of  a  small  number  who  were  personally  interested  in  the  suc- 
cess of  Japan,  was  altogether  unfavorable  to  the  new  regime, 
and  every  change  was  regarded  with  indignation.  Though 
destitute  of  true  patriotism,  the  common  people  looked  upon 
the  King  as  a  sacred  person,  and  they  were  furious  at  the  in- 
dignities to  which  he  had  been  subjected.     The  official  class 


A  Transition  Stage  263 

saw  that  reform  meant  the  end  of  "  squeezing"  and  ill-gotten 
gains,  and  'they,  with  the  whole  army  of  parasites  and  hang- 
ers-on of  yame?is,  were  all  pledged  by  the  strongest  personal 
interest  to  oppose  it  by  active  opposition  or  passive  resistance. 
Though  corruption  has  its  stronghold  in  Seoul,  every  provincial 
government  repeats  on  a  smaller  scale  the  iniquities  of  the 
capital,  and  has  its  own  army  of  dishonest  and  lazy  officials 
fattening  on  the  earnings  of  the  industrious  classes. 

The  cleansing  of  the  Augean  stable  of  the  Korean  official 
system,  which  the  Japanese  had  undertaken,  was  indeed  an 
Herculean  labor.  Traditions  of  honor  and  honesty,  if  they 
ever  existed,  had  been  forgotten  for  centuries.  Standards  of 
official  rectitude  were  unknown.  In  Korea  when  the  Japanese 
undertook  the  work  of  reform  there  were  but  two  classes,  the 
robbers  and  the  robbed,  and  the  robbers  included  the  vast 
army  which  constituted  officialdom.  "  Squeezing  "  and  pecu- 
lation were  the  rule  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  every 
position  was  bought  and  sold. 

The  transition  stage,  down  to  12th  February,  1895,  when 
I  left  Korea,  was  a  remarkable  one.  The  Official  Gazette 
curiously  reflected  that  singular  period.  One  day  a  decree 
abolished  the  3  feet  long  tobacco  pipes  which  were  the  delight 
of  the  Koreans  of  the  capital ;  another,  there  was  an  enlight- 
ened statute  ordering  the  planting  of  pines  to  remedy  the  den- 
udation of  the  hills  around  Seoul,  the  same  Gazette  directing 
that  duly  appointed  geomancers  should  find  ''an  auspicious 
day  "  on  which  the  King  might  worship  at  the  ancestral  tab- 
lets !  One  day  barbarous  and  brutalizing  punishments  were 
wisely  abolished  ;  another,  there  appeared  a  string,  of  vexatious 
and  petty  regulations  calculated  to  harass  the  Chinese  out  of 
the  kingdom,  and  appointing  as  a  punishment  for  the  breach 
of  them  a  fine  of  100  dollars  or  100  blows  ! 

Failure  in  tact  was  one  great  fault  of  the  Japanese.  The 
seizure  of  the  Palace  and  the  King's  person  in  July,  1894,  even 
if  a  dubious  political  necessity,  did  not  excuse  the  indignities 


264  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

to  which  the  sovereign  was  exposed.  The  forcing  of  former 
conspirators  into  high  office  was  a  grave  error,  and  tactless 
proceedings,  such  as  the  abolition  of  long  pipes,  alterations  in 
Court  and  other  dress,  many  interferences  with  social  customs, 
and  petty  and  harassing  restrictions  and  regulations,  embit- 
tered the  people  against  the  new  regime. 

The  Tong-haks,  who  had  respectfully  thrown  off  allegiance 
to  the  King  on  the  ground  that  he  was  in  the  hands  of  for- 
eigners, and  had  appointed  another  sovereign,  had  been  van- 
quished early  in  January,  and  their  king's  head  had  been  sent 
to  Seoul  by  a  loyal  governor.  There  I  saw  it  in  the  busiest 
part  of  the  Peking  Road,  a  bustling  market  outside  the  *'  little 
West  Gate,"  hanging  from  a  rude  arrangement  of  three  sticks 
like  a  camp-kettle  stand,  with  another  head  below  it.  Both 
faces  wore  a  calm,  almost  dignified,  expression.  Not  far  off 
two  more  heads  had  been  exposed  in  a  similar  frame,  but  it 
had  given  way,  and  they  lay  in  the  dust  of  the  roadway,  much 
gnawed  by  dogs  at  the  back.  The  last  agony  was  stiffened  on 
their  features.  A  turnip  lay  beside  them,  and  some  small  chil- 
dren cut  pieces  from  it  and  presented  them  mockingly  to  the 
blackened  mouths.  This  brutalizing  spectacle  had  existed  for 
a  week. 

Three  days  later,  in  the  stillness  of  the  Korean  New  Year's 
Day,  I  rode  with  a  friend  along  a  lonely  road  passing  through 
a  fair  agricultural  valley  among  pine-clothed  knolls  outside  the 
South  and  East  Gates  of  Seoul.  Snow  lay  on  the  ground  and 
the  grim  sky  threatened  a  further  storm.  It  was  cold,  and  we 
observed  with  surprise  three  coolies  in  summer  cotton  clothing 
lying  by  the  roadside  asleep;  but  it  was  the  last  sleep,  for  on 
approaching  them  we  found  that,  though  their  attitudes  were 
those  of  easy  repose,  the  bodies  were  without  heads,  nor  had 
the  headsman's  axe  been  merciful  or  sharp.  In  the  middle  of 
the  road  were  great,  frozen,  crimson  splashes  where  the  Tong- 
hak  leaders  had  expiated  their  treason,  criminals  in  Korea,  as 
in  old  Jerusalem,  suffering  "without  the  gate." 


A  Transition  Stage  265 

A  few  days  later  an  order  appeared  in  the  Gazette  abolish- 
ing beheading  and  ''slicing  to  death,"  and  substituting  death 
by  strangulation  for  civil,  and  by  sliooting  for  military  capital 
crimes.  This  order  practically  made  an  end  of  the  prerogative 
of  life  and  death  heretofore  possessed  by  the  Korean  sovereigns. 

So  the  ''  old  order  "  was  daily  changing  under  the  pressure 
of  the  Japanese  advisers,  and  on  the  whole  changing  most  de- 
cidedly for  the  better,  though,  owing  to  the  number  of  reforms 
decreed  and  in  contemplation,  everything  was  in  a  tentative 
and  chaotic  state.  Korea  was  "  swithering  "  between  China 
and  Japan,  afraid  to  go  in  heartily  for  the  reforms  initiated  by 
Japan  lest  China  should  regain  position  and  be  ''down"  upon 
her,  and  afraid  to  oppose  them  actively  lest  Japan  should  be 
permanently  successful. 

On  that  same  New  Year's  Day  there  was  more  to  be  seen 
than  headless  trunks.  Through  the  length  of  Seoul,  towards 
twilight,  an  odor  of  burning  hair  overpowered  the  aromatic 
scent  of  the  pine  brush,  and  all  down  every  street,  outside 
every  door,  there  were  red  glimmers  of  light.  It  is  the  custom 
in  every  family  on  that  day  to  carry  out  the  carefully  preserved 
clippings  and  combings  of  the  family  hair  and  burn  them  in 
potsherds,  a  practice  which  it  is  hoped  will  prevent  the  entrance 
of  certain  daemons  into  the  house  during  the  year.  Rude  straw 
dolls  stuffed  with  a  few  cash  were  also  thrown  into  the  street. 
This  effigy  is  believed  to  take  away  troubles  and  foist  them  on 
whoever  picks  it  up.  To  prevent  such  a  vicarious  calamity, 
more  than  one  mother  on  that  evening  pounced  upon  a  child 
who  childlike  had  picked  up  the  doll  and  threw  it  far  from 
him. 

On  that  night  round  pieces  of  red  or  white  paper  placed  in 
cleft  sticks  are  put  upon  the  roofs  of  houses,  and  those  persons 
who  have  been  warned  by  the  sorcerers  of  troubles  to  cdtne, 
pray  (?)  to  the  moon  to  remove  them. 

A  common  Korean  custom  on  the  same  day  is  for  people  to 
paint  images  on  paper,  and  to  write  against  them  their  troubles 


266  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

of  body  or  mind,  afterwards  giving  the  paper  to  a  boy  who 
burns  it. 

A  more  singular  New  Year  custom  in  Seoul  is  ''Walking  the 
Bridges."  Up  to  midnight,  men,  women,  and  children  cross 
a  bridge  or  bridges  as  many  times  as  they  are  years  old.  This 
is  believed  to  prevent  pains  in  the  feet  and  legs  during  the  year. 

This  day,  the  "Great  Fifteenth  Day,"  concludes  the  kite- 
flying and  stone  fights  which  enliven  Seoul  for  the  previous 
fortnight,  and  every  Korean  insists  on  keeping  it  as  a  holiday. 
Graves  are  formally  visited,  and  gathered  families  spread  food 
before  the  ancestral  tablets.  Curious  customs  prevail  at  this 
time.  A  few  days  before,  the  Palace  eunuchs  chant  invoca- 
tions, swinging  burning  torches  as  they  do  so.  This  is  sup- 
posed to  ensure  bountiful  crops  for  the  next  season.  People 
buy  quantities  of  nuts,  which  they  crack,  hold  the  kernels  in 
the  mouth,  and  then  throw  them  away.  This  is  to  prevent 
summer  sores  and  boils.  Also  on  the  Great  Fifteenth  Day  men 
try  to  find  out  the  probable  rainfall  for  each  month  by  split- 
ting a  small  piece  of  bamboo,  and  laying  twelve  beans  side  by 
side  in  one  of  the  halves,  after  which  it  is  closed,  and  after 
being  bound  tightly  with  cord,  is  lowered  into  a  well  for  the 
night.  Each  bean  represents  a  month.  In  the  morning,  when 
they  are  examined  in  rotation,  they  are  variously  enlarged,  and 
the  enlargement  indicates  the  proportion  of  rain  in  that  special 
moon.  If,  on  the  contrary,  one  or  more  are  wizened,  it  causes 
great  alarm,  as  indicating  complete  or  partial  drought  in  one 
or  more  months.  Dogs  do  not  get  their  usual  meal  on  the 
morning  of  the  "  Great  Fifteenth,"  in  the  belief  that  the  dep- 
rivation will  keep  them  from  being  pestered  with  flies  during 
the  long  summer. 

If  a  boy  has  been  born  during  the  year,  poles  bearing  paper 
fish  by  day  and  lanterns  by  night  project  from  the  house  of  the 
parents.  The  people  at  night  watch  the  burning  of  candles. 
If  they  are  entirely  burned,  the  life  of  the  child  will  be  long; 
if  only  partially  burned,  it  will  be  proportionately  shorter. 


A  Transition  Stage  267 

I  left  Seoul  very  regretfully  on  5th  February.  The  Japanese 
had  introduced  ji'nn'^s has,  but  the  runners  were  unskilled,  and 
I  met  with  so  severe  an  accident  in  going  down  to  Chemulpo 
that  I  did  not  recover  for  a  year.  The  line  of  steamers  to 
Japan  was  totally  disorganized  by  the  war,  and  in  the  week 
that  I  waited  for  the  /ifi^o  Mane  war  was  uppermost  in  peo- 
ple's thoughts.  There  were  some  who  even  then  could  not 
bring  themselves  to  believe  in  the  eventual  success  of  the  Japa- 
nese. The  fall  of  Wei-hai-wei  and  the  capture  of  the  Chinese 
fleet  opened  many  eyes.  I  was  in  the  office  of  the  '*  N.Y.K." 
when  the  news  came,  and  the  clerks  were  too  wild  with  excite- 
ment to  attend  to  me,  apologizing  by  saying,  "It's  another 
victory  !  "  Chemulpo  was  decorated,  illuminated,  and  pro- 
cessioned for  victories,  Li  Hung  Chang  was  burned  in  effigy, 
and  unlimited  sake  for  all  comers  was  supplied  from  tubs  at 
the  street  corners. 

There  were  indications  of  the  cost  of  victory,  however. 
The  great  military  hospitals  were  full,  the  cemetery  was  filling 
fast,  military  funerals  with  military  pomp  and  Shinto  priests 
passed  down  the  bannered  street,  and  600  transport  coolies 
tramping  from  Manchuria  arrived  in  rags  and  tatters,  some 
clothed  in  raw  hides  and  raw  skins  of  sheep,  their  feet,  hands, 
and  lips  frost-bitten,  and  with  blackened  stumps  of  fingers  and 
toes  protruding  from  filthy  bandages.  The  Japanese  schools 
teach  that  Japan  has  a  right  to  demand  all  that  a  man  has,  and 
that  life  itself  is  not  too  costly  a  sacrifice  for  him  to  lay  on  the 
altar  of  his  country.  Undoubtedly  the  teaching  bears  fruit. 
Not  long  before  at  Osaka  I  saw  the  wharves  piled  high  with 
voluntary  contributions  for  the  troops,  and  the  Third  Army 
leave  the  city  amidst  an  outburst  of  popular  enthusiasm  such 
as  I  never  saw  equalled.  Most  of  these  coolies,  when  they  re- 
ceived new  clothing,  volunteered  for  further  service,  and  dying 
soldiers  on  battlefields  and  in  hospitals  uttered  ''  Dai  Nippon 
Banzai!'''  (Great  Japan  forever!)  v/ith  their  last  faltering 
breath. 


268 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


When  I  left  Korea  the  condition  of  things  may  be  sum- 
marized thus.  Japan  was  thoroughly  in  earnest  as  to  reform- 
ing the  Korean  administration  through  Koreans,  and  very 
many  reforms  were  decreed  or  in  contemplation,  while  some 
evils  and  abuses  were  already  swept  away.  The  King,  de- 
prived of  his  absolute  sovereignty,  was  practically  a  salaried 
registrar  of  decrees.  Count  Inouye  occupied  the  position  of 
"Resident,"  and  the  Government  was  administered  in  the 
King's  name  by  a  Cabinet  consisting  of  the  heads  of  ten  de- 
partments, in  some  measure  the  nominees  of  the  ''Resident."  ^ 

1 1  repeat  this  statement  in  this  form  for  the  benefit  of  the  reader,  and 
ask  him  to  compare  it  with  a  summary  of  Korean  affairs  early  in  1897, 
given  in  the  36th  chapter  of  this  volume. 


PLACE  OF  THE  QUEEN'S  CREMATION. 


I 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE   ASSASSINATION    OF   THE   QUEEN 

N  May,  1895,  a  treaty  of  peace  between  China  and  Japan 
_  was  signed  at  Shimonoseki,  a  heavy  indemnity,  the  island 
of  Formosa,  and  a  great  accession  of  prestige,  being  the  gains 
of  Japan.  From  thenceforward  no  power  having  interests  in 
the  Far  East  could  afford  to  regard  her  as  a  quantite  neglige- 
able. 

After  travelling  for  some  months  in  South  and  Mid  China, 
and  spending  the  summer  in  Japan,  I  arrived  in  Nagasaki  in 
October,  1895,  to  hear  a  rumor  of  the  assassination  of  the 
Korean  Queen,  afterwards  confirmed  on  board  the  Suruga 
Maru  by  Mr.  Sill,  the  American  Minister,  who  was  hurrying 
back  to  his  post  in  Seoul  in  consequence  of  the  disturbed  state 
of  affairs.  I  went  up  immediately  from  Chemulpo  to  the 
capital,  where  I  was  Mr.  Hillier's  guest  at  the  English  Lega- 
tion for  two  exciting  months. 

The  native  and  foreign  communities  were  naturally  much 
excited  by  the  tragedy  at  the  Palace,  and  the  treatment  which 
the  King  was  receiving.  Count  Inouye,  whose  presence  in 
Seoul  always  produced  confidence,  had  left  a  month  before, 
and  had  been  succeeded  by  General  Viscount  Miura,  a  capable 
soldier,  without  diplomatic  experience. 

In  an  interview  which  Count  Inouye  had  with  the  Queen 
shortly  before  his  departure,  speaking  of  the  ascendency  of 
the  Tai-Won-Kun,  after  the  capture  of  the  Palace  by  Mr. 
Otori  in  the  previous  July,  Her  Majesty  said,  "  It  is  a  matter 
of  regret  to  me  that  the  overtures  made  by  me  towards  Japan 
were  rejected.     The  Tai-Won-Kun,  on  the  other  hand,  who 

269 


270  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

showed  his  unfriendliness  towards  Japan,  was  assisted  by  the 
Japanese  Minister  to  rise  in  power." 

In  the  despatch  in  which  Count  Inouye  reported  this  inter- 
view to  his  Government  he  wrote  :  — 

I  gave  as  far  as  I  could  an  explanation  of  these  things  to  the  Queen, 
and  after  so  allaying  her  suspicions,  1  further  explained  that  it  was  the 
true  and  sincere  desire  of  the  Emperor  and  Government  of  Japan  to  place 
the  independence  of  Korea  on  a  firm  basis,  and  in  the  meantime  to 
strengthen  the  Royal  House  of  Korea.  /;/  the  event  of  any  member  of 
the  Royal  Family,  or  indeed  any  Korean,  therefore  attempting  treasoti 
against  the  Royal  House,  I  gave  the  assurance  that  the  Japanese  Govern- 
7?ient  would  not  fail  to  protect  the  Royal  House  even  by  force  of  arms, 
and  so  secure  the  safety  of  the  kingdom.  These  remarks  of  mine  seemed 
to  have  moved  the  King  and  Queen,  and  their  anxiety  for  the  future  ap- 
peared to  be  much  relieved. 

The  Korean  sovereigns  would  naturally  think  themselves 
justified  in  relying  on  the  promise  so  frankly  given  by  one  of 
the  most  distinguished  of  Japanese  statesmen,  whom  they  had 
learned  to  regard  with  confidence  and  respect,  and  it  is  clear 
to  myself  that  when  the  fateful  night  came,  a  month  later, 
their  reliance  on  this  assurance  led  them  to  omit  certain  possi- 
ble precautions,  and  caused  the  Queen  to  neglect  to  make  her 
escape  at  the  first  hint  of  danger. 

When  the  well-known  arrangement  between  Viscount  Miura 
and  the  Tai-Won-Kun  was  ripe  for  execution,  the  Japanese 
Minister  directed  the  Commandant  of  the  Japanese  battalion 
quartered  in  the  barracks  just  outside  the  Palace  gate  to  facili- 
tate the  Tai-Won-Kun's  entry  into  the  Palace  by  arranging 
the  disposition  of  the  Kim-ren-tai  (Korean  troops  drilled  by 
Japanese),  and  by  calling  out  the  Imperial  force  to  support 
them.  Miura  also  called  upon  two  Japanese  to  collect  their 
friends,  go  to  Riong  San  on  the  Han,  where  the  intriguing 
Prince  was  then  living,  and  act  as  his  bodyguard  on  his  jour- 
ney to  the  Palace.  The  Minister  told  them  that  on  the  suc- 
cess of  the  enterprise  depended  the  eradication  of  the  evils 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  271 

which  had  afflicted  the  kingdom  for  twenty  years,  and  insti- 
gated   THEM   TO    DISPATCH    THE    QuEEN    WHEN    THEY  ENTERED 

THE  Palace.  One  of  Miura's  agents  then  ordered  the  Japa- 
nese policemen  who  were  off  duty  to  put  on  civilian  dress, 
provide  themselves  with  swords,  and  accompany  the  conspira- 
tors to  the  Tai-Won-Kun's  house. 

At  3  A.M.  on  the  morning  of  the  8th  of  October  they  left 
Riong  San,  escorting  the  Prince's  palanquin,  Mr.  Okamoto,  to 
whom  much  had  been  entrusted,  assembling  the  whole  party 
when  on  the  point  of  departure,  and  declaring  to  them  that 
on  entering  the  Palace  the  "Fox"  should  be  dealt  with  ac- 
cording *'  as  exigency  might  require."  Then  this  procession, 
including  ten  Japanese  who  had  dressed  themselves  in  uni- 
forms taken  from  ten  captured  Korean  police,  started  for 
Seoul,  more  than  three  miles  distant.  Outside  the  ''Gate  of 
Staunch  Loyalty"  they  were  met  by  the  Kun-ren-tai,  and 
then  waited  for  the  arrival  of  the  Japanese  troops,  after  which 
they  proceeded  at  a  rapid  pace  to  the  Palace,  entering  it  by 
the  front  gate,  and  after  killing  some  of  the  Palace  Guard, 
proceeded  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  buildings  occupied  by  the 
King  and  Queen,  which  have  a  narrow  courtyard  in  front. 

So  far  I  have  followed  the  Hiroshima  judgment  in  its  state- 
ment of  the  facts  of  that  morning,  but  when  it  has  conducted 
the  combined  force  to  ''the  inner  chambers"  it  concludes 
abruptly  with  a  "  not  proven  "  in  the  case  of  all  the  accused  ! 
For  the  rest  of  the  story,  so  far  as  it  may  interest  my  readers, 
I  follow  the  statements  of  General  Dye  and  Mr.  Sabatin  of  the 
King's  Guard,  and  of  certain  official  documents. 

It  is  necessary  here  to  go  back  upon  various  events  which 
preceded  the  murder  of  Her  Majesty.  Trouble  arose  in  Oc- 
tober between  the  Ktm-ren-tai  and  the  Seoul  police,  resulting 
in  the  total  defeat  of  the  latter.  The  Kim-ren-tai,  numbering 
1,000,  were  commanded  by  Colonel  Hong,  who  in  1882  had 
rescued  the  Queen  from  imminent  danger,  and  was  trusted  by 
the  Royal  Family.     The  Palace  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Old 


272  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Guard  under  Colonel  Hyon,  who  bad  saved  Her  Majesty's  life 
in  1884.  In  the  first  week  of  October  the  strength  of  this 
Guard  was  greatly  reduced,  useful  weapons  were  quietly  with- 
drawn, and  the  ammunition  was  removed. 

On  the  night  of  the  7th  the  Kiui-7'en-tai,  with  their  Japa- 
nese instructors,  marched  and  countermarched  till  they  were 
found  on  all  sides  of  the  Palace,  causing  some  uneasiness 
within.  The  alarm  was  given  to  General  Dye  and  Mr.  Saba- 
tin  early  on  the  morning  of  the  8th. ^  These  officers,  looking 
through  a  chink  of  the  gate,  saw  a  number  of  Japanese  sol- 
diers with  fixed  bayonets  standing  there,  who,  on  being  asked 
what  they  were  doing,  filed  right  and  left  out  of  the  moonlight 
under  the  shadow  of  the  wall.  Skulking  under  another  part 
of  the  wall  were  over  200  of  the  Kun-ren-tai.  The  two  for- 
eigners were  consulting  as  to  the  steps  to  be  taken  when  heavy 
sounds  of  battering  came  from  the  grand  entrance  gate,  fol- 
lowed by  firing. 

General  Dye  attempted  to  rally  the  Guard,  but  after  five  or 
six  volleys  from  the  assailants  they  broke  with  such  a  rush  as 
to  sweep  the  two  foreigners  past  the  King's  house  to  the  gate- 
way of  the  Queen's,  No  clear  account  has  ever  been  given  of 
the  events  which  followed.  Colonel  Hong,  the  commander  of 
the  Kun-ren-tai,  was  cut  down  by  a  Japanese  officer  at  the 
great  gate,  and  was  afterwards  mortally  wounded  by  eight  bul- 
lets. The  Kun-7'en-tai  swarmed  into  the  Palace  from  all 
directions,  along  with  Japanese  civilians  armed  with  swords, 
who  frantically  demanded  the  whereabouts  of  the  Queen, 
hauling  the  Palace  ladies  about  by  the  hair  to  compel  them  to 
point  out  Her  Majesty,  rushing  in  and  out  of  windows,  throw- 
ing the  ladies-in-waiting  from  the  7  feet  high  veranda  into 
the  compound,  cutting  and  kicking  them,  and  brutally  mur- 
dering four  in  the  hope  that  they  had  thus  secured  their  victim. 

'General  Dye,  late  of  the  U.  S.  army,  was  instructor  of  the  Old  Guard. 
Mr.  Sabatin,  a  Russian  subject,  was  temporarily  employed  as  a  watchman 
to  see  that  the  sentries  were  at  their  posts. 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  273 

Japanese  troops  also  entered  the  Palace,  and  formed  in  mili- 
tary order  under  the  command  of  their  officers  round  the  small 
courtyard  of  the  King's  house  and  at  its  gate,  protecting  the 
assassins  in  their  murderous  work.  Before  this  force  of  Japa- 
nese regulars  arrived  there  was  a  flying  rout  of  servants,  run- 
ners, and  Palace  Guards  rushing  from  every  point  of  the  vast 
enclosure  in  mad  haste  to  get  out  of  the  gates.  As  the  Japa- 
nese entered  the  building,  the  unfortunate  King,  hoping  to 
divert  their  attention  and  give  the  Queen  time  to  escape,  came 
into  a  front  room  where  he  could  be  distinctly  seen.  Some  of 
the  Japanese  assassins  rushed  in  brandishing  their  swords, 
pulled  His  Majesty  about,  and  beat  and  dragged  about  some 
of  the  Palace  ladies  by  the  hair  in  his  presence.  The  Crown 
Prince,  who  was  in  an  inner  room,  was  seized,  his  hat  torn  off 
and  broken,  and  he  was  pulled  about  by  the  hair  and  threat- 
ened with  swords  to  make  him  show  the  way  to  the  Queen, 
but  he  managed  to  reach  the  King,  and  they  have  never  been 
separated  since. 

The  whole  affair  did  not  occupy  much  more  than  an  hour. 
The  Crown  Prince  saw  his  mother  rush  down  a  passage  fol- 
lowed by  a  Japanese  with  a  sword,  and  there  was  a  general 
rush  of  assassins  for  her  sleeping  apartments.  In  the  upper 
story  the  Crown  Princess  was  found  with  several  ladies,  and 
she  was  dragged  by  the  hair,  cut  with  a  sword,  beaten,  and 
thrown  downstairs.  Yi  Kyong-jik,  Minister  of  the  Royal 
Household,  seems  to  have  given  the  alarm,  for  the  Queen  was 
dressed  and  was  preparing  to  run  and  hide  herself.  When  the 
murderers  rushed  in,  he  stood  with  outstretched  arms  in  front 
of  Her  Majesty,  trying  to  protect  her,  furnishing  them  with  the 
clue  they  wanted.  They  slashed  off  both  his  hands  and  in- 
flicted other  wounds,  but  he  contrived  to  drag  himself  along 
the  veranda  into  the  King's  presence,  where  he  bled  to  death. 

The  Queen,  flying  from  the  assassins,  was  overtaken  and 
stabbed,  falling  down  as  if  dead,  but  one  account  says  that, 
recovering  a  little,  she  asked  if  the  Crown  Prince,  her  idol, 


274  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

was  safe,  on  which  a  Japanese  jumped  on  her  breast  and 
stabbed  her  through  and  through  with  his  sword.  Even  then, 
though  the  nurse  whom  I  formerly  saw  in  attendance  on  her 
covered  her  face,  it  is  not  certain  that  she  was  dead,  but  the 
Japanese  laid  her  on  a  plank,  wrapped  a  silk  quilt  round  her, 
and  she  was  carried  to  a  grove  of  pines  in  the  adjacent  deer 
park,  where  kerosene  oil  was  poured  over  the  body,  which  was 
surrounded  by  faggots  and  burned,  only  a  few  small  bones 
escaping  destruction. 

Thus  perished,  at  the  age  of  forty-four,  by  the  hands  of  for- 
eign assassins,  instigated  to  their  bloody  work  by  the  Minister 
of  a  friendly  power,  the  clever,  ambitious,  intriguing,  fascinat- 
ing, and  in  many  respects  lovable  Queen  of  Korea.  In  her 
lifetime  Count  Inouye,  whose  verdict  for  many  reasons  may  be 
accepted,  said,  "Her  Majesty  has  few  equals  among  her 
countrymen  for  shrewdness  and  sagacity.  In  the  art  of  con- 
ciliating her  enemies  and  winning  the  confidence  of  her 
servants  she  has  no  equals." 

A  short  time  after  daylight  the  Tai-Won-Kun  issued 
two  proclamations,  of  which  the  following  sentences  are 
specimens  : — 

1st,  "  The  hearts  of  the  people  dissolve  through  the  presence  in  the 
Palace  of  a  crowd  of  base  fellows.  So  the  National  Grand  Duke  is  re- 
turned to  power  to  inaugurate  changes,  expel  the  base  fellows,  restore 
former  laws,  and  vindicate  the  dignity  of  His  Majesty." 

2nd,  "I  have  now  entered  the  Palace  to  aid  His  Majesty,  expel  the 
low  fellows,  perfect  that  which  will  be  a  benefit,  save  the  country,  and  in- 
troduce peace." 

The  Palace  gates  were  guarded  by  the  mutinous  Kun-ren-tai 
with  fixed  bayonets,  who  allowed  a  constant  stream  of  Koreans 
to  pass  out,  the  remnants  of  the  Old  Palace  Guard,  who  had 
thrown  off  their  uniforms  and  hidden  their  arms,  each  man 
being  seized  and  searched  before  his  exit  was  permitted.  Near 
the  gate  was  a  crimson  pool  marking  the  spot  where  Colonel 
Hong  fell.     Three  of  the   Ministers  were  at  once  dismissed 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  275 

from  their  posts,  some  escaped,  and  many  of  the  high  officials 
sought  safety  in  flight.  Nearly  every  one  who  was  trusted  by 
the  King  was  removed,  and  several  of  the  chief  offices  of  State 
were  filled  by  the  nominees  of  the  officers  of  the  Ktin-re?i-tai, 
who,  later,  when  they  did  not  find  the  Cabinet,  which  was 
chiefly  of  their  own  creation,  sufficiently  subservient,  used  to 
threaten  it  with  drawn  swords. 

Viscount  Miura  arrived  at  the  Palace  at  daylight,  with  Mr. 
Sugimura,  Secretary  of  the  Japanese  Legation  (who  had 
arranged  the  details  of  the  plot),  and  a  certain  Japanese  who 
had  been  seen  by  the  King  apparently  leading  the  assassins, 
and  actively  participating  in  the  bloody  work,  and  had  an 
audience  of  His  Majesty,  who  was  profoundly  agitated.  He 
signed  three  documents  at  their  bidding,  after  which  the 
Japanese  troops  were  withdrawn  from  the  Palace,  and  the 
armed  forces,  and  even  the  King's  personal  attendants,  were 
placed  under  the  orders  of  those  who  had  been  concerned  in 
attack.     The  Tai-Won-Kun  was  present  at  this  audience. 

During  the  day  all  the  Foreign  Representatives  had  audi- 
ences of  the  King,  who  was  much  agitated,  sobbed  at  intervals, 
and,  believing  the  Queen  to  have  escaped,  was  very  solicitous 
about  his  own  safety,  as  he  was  environed  by  assassins,  the 
most  unscrupulous  of  all  being  his  own  father.  In  violation 
of  custom,  he  grasped  the  hands  of  the  Representatives,  and 
asked  them  to  use  their  friendly  offices  to  prevent  further  out- 
rage and  violence.  He  was  anxious  that  the  Kun-ren-tai 
should  be  replaced  by  Japanese  troops.  On  the  same  after- 
noon the  Foreign  Representatives  met  at  the  Japanese  Le- 
gation to  hear  Viscount  Miura's  explanation  of  circumstances 
in  which  his  countrymen  were  so  seriously  implicated. 

Three  days  after  the  events  in  the  Palace,  and  while  the 
King  and  the  general  public  believed  the  Queen  to  be  alive,  a 
so-called  Royal  Edict,  a  more  infamous  outrage  on  the  Queen 
even  than  her  brutal  assassination,  was  published  in  the  Official 
Gazette.     The  King  on  being  asked  to  sign  it  refused,  and 


2/6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

said  he  would  have  his  hands  cut  off  rather,  but  it  appeared  as 
his  decree,  and  bore  the  signatures  of  the  Minister  of  the 
Household,  the  Prime  Minister,  and  six  other  members  of  the 
Cabinet. 

ROYAL    EDICT. 

It  is  now  thirty-two  years  since  We  ascended  the  throne,  but  Our  ruling 
influence  has  not  extended  wide.  The  Queen  Min  introduced  her  rela- 
tives to  the  Court  and  placed  them  about  Our  person,  whereby  she  made 
dull  Our  senses,  exposed  the  people  to  extortion,  put  Our  Government  in 
disorder,  selling  offices  and  titles.  Hence  tyranny  prevailed  all  over  the 
country  and  robbers  arose  in  all  quarters.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
foundation  of  Our  dynasty  was  in  imminent  peril.  We  knew  the  extreme 
of  her  wickedness,  but  could  not  dismiss  and  punish  her  because  of  help- 
lessness and  fear  of  her  party. 

We  desire  to  stop  and  suppress  her  influence.  In  the  twelfth  moon  of 
last  year  we  took  an  oath  at  Our  Ancestral  Shrine  that  the  Queen  and  her 
relatives  and  Ours  should  never  again  be  allowed  to  interfere  in  State  af- 
fairs. We  hoped  this  would  lead  the  Min  faction  to  mend  their  ways. 
But  the  Queen  did  not  give  up  her  Muckedness,  but  with  her  party  aided 
a  crowd  of  low  fellows  to  rise  up  about  Us  and  so  managed  as  to  pre- 
vent the  Ministers  of  State  from  consulting  Us.  Moreover,  they  have 
forged  Our  signature  to  a  decree  to  disband  Our  loyal  soldiers,  thereby 
instigating  and  raising  a  disturbance,  and  when  it  occurred  she  escaped 
as  in  the  Im  O  year.  We  have  endeavored  to  discover  her  whereabouts, 
but  as  she  does  not  come  forth  and  appear  We  are  convinced  that  she  is 
not  only  unfitted  and  unworthy  of  the  Queen's  rank,  but  also  that  her 
guilt  is  excessive  and  brimful.  Therefore  with  her  We  may  not  succeed 
to  the  glory  of  the  Royal  Ancestry.  So  We  hereby  depose  her  from  the 
rank  of  Queen  and  reduce  her  to  the  level  of  the  lowest  class. 
Signed  by 

Yi  Chai-myon,  Minister  of  the  Royal  Household. 

Kim  Hong-chip,  Prime  Minister. 

Kim  Yun-sik,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Pak  Chong-yang,  Minister  of  Home  Affairs. 

Shim  Sang-hun,  Minister  of  Finance. 

Cho  Heui-yon,  Minister  of  War. 

So  Kwang-pom,  Minister  of  Justice. 

So  KwANG-POM,  Minister  of  Education. 

Chong  Pyong-ha,  Vice-Minister  of  Agriculture  and 
Commerce. 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  27^ 

On  the  day  following  the  issue  of  this  fraudulent  and 
infamous  edict,  another  appeared  in  which  Her  Majesty,  out 
of  pity  for  the  Crown  Prince  and  as  a  reward  for  his  deep  de- 
votion to  his  father,  was  ''  raised  "  by  the  King  to  the  rank  of 
*'  Concubine  of  the  First  Order  "  ! 

The  diplomats  were  harassed  and  anxious,  and  met  con- 
stantly to  discuss  the  situation.  Of  course  the  state  of  ex- 
treme tension  was  not  caused  solely  by  "  happenings "  in 
Korea  and  their  local  consequences.  For  behind  this  well- 
executed  plot,  and  the  diabolical  murder  of  a  defenceless 
woman,  lay  a  terrible  suspicion,  which  gained  in  strength 
every  hour  during  the  first  few  days  after  the  tragedy  till  it  in- 
tensified into  a  certainty,  of  which  people  spoke  as  in  cipher, 
by  hints  alone,  that  other  brains  than  Korean  planned  the 
plot,  that  other  than  Korean  hands  took  the  lives  that  were 
taken,  that  the  sentries  who  guarded  the  King's  apartments 
while  the  deed  of  blood  was  being  perpetrated  wore  other  than 
Korean  uniforms,  and  that  other  than  Korean  bayonets  gleamed 
in  the  shadow  of  the  Palace  wall. 

People  spoke  their  suspicions  cautiously,  though  the  evidence 
of  General  Dye  and  of  Mr.  Sabatin  pointed  unmistakably  in 
one  direction.  So  early  as  the  day  after  the  affair,  the  ques- 
tion which  emerged  was,  ''Is  Viscount  General  Miura  crim- 
inally implicated  or  not?"  It  is  needless  to  go  into  partic- 
ulars on  this  subject.  Ten  days  after  the  tragedy  at  the  Palace, 
the  Japanese  Government,  which  was  soon  proved  innocent  of 
any  complicity  in  the  affair,  recalled  and  arrested  Viscount 
Miura,  Sugimura,  and  Okamoto,  Adviser  to  the  Korean  War  De- 
partment, who,  some  months  later,  along  with  forty-five  others, 
were  placed  on  their  trial  before  the  Japanese  Court  of  First 
Instance  at  Hiroshima,  and  were  acquitted  on  the  technical 
ground  that  there  was  "no  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that 
any  of  the  accused  actually  committed  the  crime  originally 
meditated  by  them,"  this  crime,  according  to  the  judgment, 
being  that  two  of  the   accused,   ''at   the   instigation   of 


278  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

MlURA,    DECIDED    TO    MURDER    THE    QuEEN,    and  tOok  StCpS  by 

collecting  accomplices  .  .  .  more  than  ten  others  were  di- 
rected by  these  two  persons  to  do  away  with  the  Queen." 

Viscount  Miura  was  replaced  by  Mr.  Komura,  an  able  di- 
plomatist, and  shortly  afterwards  Count  Inouye  arrived,  bearing 
the  condolences  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan  to  the  unfortunate 
Korean  King.  A  heavier  blow  to  Japanese  prestige  and  po- 
sition as  the  leader  of  civilization  in  the  East  could  not  have 
been  struck,  and  the  Government  continues  to  deserve  our 
sympathy  on  the  occasion.  For  when  the  disavowal  is  for- 
gotten, it  will  be  always  remembered  that  the  murderous  plot 
was  arranged  in  the  Japanese  Legation,  and  that  of  the  Japa- 
nese dressed  as  civilians  and  armed  with  swords  and  pistols, 
who  were  directly  engaged  in  the  outrages  committed  in  the 
Palace,  some  were  advisers  to  the  Korean  Government  and  in 
its  pay,  and  others  were  Japanese  policemen  connected  with 
the  Japanese  Legation — sixty  persons  in  all,  including  those 
known  as  Soshi,  and  exclusive  of  the  Japanese  troops. 

The  Foreign  Representatives  with  one  exception  informed 
the  Cabinet  that  until  steps  were  taken  to  bring  the  assassins 
to  justice,  till  the  Kiin-ren-tai  Guard  was  removed  from  the 
Palace,  and  till  the  recently  introduced  members  of  the 
Cabinet  who  were  responsible  for  the  outrages  had  been  ar- 
raigned or  at  least  removed  from  office,  they  declined  to  recog- 
nize any  act  of  the  Government,  or  to  accept  as  authentic  any 
order  issued  by  it  in  the  King's  name.  The  prudence  of  this 
course  became  apparent  later. 

On  15th  October,  in  an  extra  issue  of  the  Official  Gazette y 
it  was  announced  "By  Royal  Command"  that,  as  the  po- 
sition of  Queen  must  not  remain  vacant  for  a  day,  proceed- 
ings for  the  choice  of  a  bride  were  to  begin  at  once  !  This 
was  only  one  among  the  many  insults  which  were  heaped  upon 
the  Royal  prisoner. 

During  the  remainder  of  October  and  November  there  was 
no  improvement  in  affairs.     The  gloom  was  profound.     In- 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  279 

stead  of  Royal  receptions  and  entertainments,  the  King, 
shaken  by  terror  and  in  hourly  dread  of  poison  or  assassina- 
tion, was  a  close  prisoner  in  a  poor  part  of  his  own  palace,  in 
the  hands  of  a  Cabinet  chiefly  composed  of  men  who  were 
the  tools  of  the  mutinous  soldiers  who  were  practically  his 
jailers,  compelled  to  put  his  seal  to  edicts  which  he  loathed, 
the  tool  of  men  on  whose  hands  the  blood  of  his  murdered 
Queen  was  hardly  dry.  Nothing  could  be  more  pitiable  than 
the  condition  of  the  King  and  Crown  Prince,  each  dreading 
that  the  other  would  be  slain  before  his  eyes,  not  daring  to  eat 
of  any  food  prepared  in  the  Palace,  dreading  to  be  separated, 
even  for  a  few  minutes,  without  an  adherent  whom  they  could 
trust,  and  with  recent  memories  of  infinite  horror  as  food  for 
contemplation. 

General  Dye,  the  American  military  adviser,  an  old  and 
feeble  man,  slept  near  the  Palace  Library,  and  the  American 
missionaries  in  twos  took  it  in  turns  to  watch  with  him.  This 
was  the  only  protection  which  the  unfortunate  sovereign  pos- 
sessed. He  was  also  visited  daily  by  the  Foreign  Representa- 
tives in  turns,  with  the  double  object  of  ascertaining  that  he 
was  alive  and  assuring  him  of  their  sympathy  and  interest. 
Food  was  supplied  to  him  in  a  locked  box  from  the  Russian 
or  U.  S.  Legations,  but  so  closely  was  he  watched,  that  it  was 
difficult  to  pass  the  key  into  his  hand,  and  a  hasty  and  very 
occasional  whisper  was  the  only  communication  he  could  suc- 
ceed in  making  to  these  foreigners,  who  were  his  sole  reliance. 
Undoubtedly  from  the  first  he  hoped  to  escape  either  to  the 
English  or  Russian  Legation.  At  times  he  sobbed  piteously 
and  shook  the  hands  of  the  foreigners,  who  made  no  attempt 
to  conceal  the  sympathy  they  felt  for  the  always  courteous 
and  kindly  sovereign. 

Entertainments  among  the  foreigners  ceased.  The  dismay 
was  too  profound  and  the  mourning  too  real  to  permit  even  of 
the  mild  gaieties  of  a  Seoul  winter.  Every  foreign  lady,  and 
specially  Mrs.  Underwood,  Her  Majesty's  medical  attendant, 


28o  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  Mme.  Waeber,  who  had  been  an  intimate  friend,  felt  her 
death  as  a  personal  loss.  Her  Oriental  unscrupulousness  in 
politics  was  forgotten  in  the  horror  excited  by  the  story  of  her 
end.  Yet  then  and  for  some  time  afterwards  people  clung  to 
the  hope  that  she  had  escaped  as  on  a  former  occasion,  and 
was  in  hiding.  Among  Koreans  opinion  was  greatly  con- 
cealed, for  there  were  innumerable  arrests,  and  no  one  knew 
when  his  turn  might  come,  but  it  was  believed  that  there  was 
an  earnest  desire  to  liberate  the  King.  A  number  of  foreign 
warships  lay  at  Chemulpo,  and  the  British,  Russian,  and 
American  Legations  were  guarded  by  marines. 

Nearly  a  month  after  the  assassination  of  the  Queen,  and 
when  all  hope  of  her  escape  had  been  abandoned,  the  condi- 
tion of  things  was  so  serious  under  the  rule  of  the  new  Cabinet, 
that  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  Foreign  Representatives  to 
terminate  it  by  urging  on  Count  Inouye  to  disarm  the  Kun- 
ren-tai,  and  occupy  the  Palace  with  Japanese  troops  until  the 
loyal  soldiers  had  been  drilled  into  an  efficiency  on  which  the 
King  might  rely  for  his  personal  safety.  It  will  be  seen  from 
this  proposal  how  completely  the  Japanese  Government  was 
exonerated  from  blame  by  the  diplomatic  agents  of  the  Great 
Powers.  This  proposal  was  not  received  with  cordial  alacrity 
by  Count  Inouye,  who  felt  that  the  step  of  an  armed  reoccu- 
pation  of  the  Palace  by  the  Japanese,  though  with  the  object 
of  securing  the  King's  safety,  would  be  liable  to  serious  mis- 
construction, and  might  bring  about  very  grave  complications. 
Such  an  idea  was  only  to  be  entertained  if  Japan  received  a 
distinct  mandate  from  the  Powers.  The  telegraph  was  set  to 
work,  a  due  amount  of  consent  to  the  arrangement  was  ob- 
tained, and  when  I  left  Seoul  on  a  northern  journey  on  No- 
vember 7th,  it  was  in  the  full  belief  that  on  reaching  Phyong- 
yang  I  should  find  a  telegram  announcing  that  this  serious 
coup  d'etat  had  been  successfully  accomplished  in  the  presence 
of  the  Foreign  Representatives.  Japan,  however,  did  not  un- 
dertake the  task,  though  urged  to  do  so  both  by  Count  Inouye 


The  Assassination  of  the  Queen  281 

and  Mr.  Komura,  the  new  Representative,  and  the  Knn-ren- 
tai  remained  in  power,  and  the  King  a  prisoner.  Had  the 
recommendation  of  the  Foreign  Representatives,  among  whom 
the  Russian  Representatives  was  the  most  emphatic  in  urging 
the  interference  of  Japan,  been  adopted,  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  the  present  predominance  of  Russian  influence  in 
Korea  would  have  been  avoided.  It  is  only  fair  to  the  Russian 
Government  to  state  that  it  gave  a  distinct  mandate  to  the 
Japanese  to  disarm  the  Kim-ren-tai  and  take  charge  of  the 
King.  The  Japanese  Government  declined,  and  therefore  is 
alone  responsible  for  Russia's  subsequent  intervention. 

During  November  the  dissatisfaction  throughout  Korea  with 
the  measures  which  were  taken  and  proposed  increased,  and 
the  position  became  so  strained,  owing  to  the  demand  of  the 
Foreign  Representatives  and  of  all  classes  of  Koreans  that  the 
occurrences  of  the  8th  of  October  must  be  investigated,  and 
that  the  fiction  of  the  Queen  being  in  hiding  should  be  aban- 
doned, that  the  Cabinet  unwillingly  recognized  that  something 
must  be  done.  So  on  26th  November  the  Foreign  Representa- 
tives were  invited  by  the  King  to  the  Palace,  and  the  Prime 
Minister,  in  presence  of  His  Majesty,  who  was  profoundly 
agitated,  produced  a  decree  bearing  the  King's  signature,  dis- 
missing the  special  nominees  of  the  mutineers,  the  Ministers 
of  War  and  Police,  declaring  that  the  so-called  Edict  degrad- 
ing the  Queen  was  set  aside  and  treated  as  void  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  that  she  was  reinstated  in  her  former  honors; 
that  the  occurrences  of  the  8th  October  were  to  be  investigated 
by  the  Department  of  Justice,  and  that  the  guilty  persons  were 
to  be  tried  and  punished.  The  death  of  Her  Majesty  was  an- 
nounced at  the  same  time. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  audience,  Mr.  Sill,  the  United 
States  Minister,  expressed  to  the  King  "  his  profound  satisfac- 
with  the  announcement."  Mr.  Hillier  followed  by  "con- 
gratulating His  Majesty  on  these  satisfactory  steps,  and  hoped 
it  would  be  the  beginning  of  a  time  of  peace  and  tranquillity, 


282  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  relieve  His  Majesty  from  much  anxiety."  These  good 
wishes  were  cordially  endorsed  by  his  colleagues. 

The  measures  proposed  by  the  King  to  reassert  his  lost 
authority  and  punish  the  conspirators  promised  very  well,  but 
were  rendered  abortive  by  a  'Moyal  plot,"  which  was  formed 
by  the  Old  Palace  Guard  and  a  number  of  Koreans,  some  of 
them  by  no  means  insignificant  men.  It  had  for  its  object 
the  liberation  of  the  sovereign  and  the  substitution  of  loyal 
troops  for  the  Kun-ren-tai.  Though  it  ended  in  a  fiasco  two 
nights  after  this  hopeful  interview,  its  execution  having  been 
frustrated  by  premature  disclosures,  its  results  were  disastrous, 
for  it  involved  a  number  of  prominent  men,  created  grave  sus- 
picions, raised  up  a  feeling  of  antagonism  to  foreigners,  some 
of  whom  (American  missionaries)  were  believed  to  be  cogni- 
zant of  the  plot,  if  not  actually  accessories,  and  brought  about 
a  general  confusion,  from  which,  when  I  left  Korea  five  weeks 
later,  there  was  no  prospect  of  escape.  The  King  was  a  closer 
prisoner  than  ever;  those  surrounding  him  grew  familiar  and 
insolent;  he  lived  in  dread  of  assassination;  and  he  had  no 
more  intercourse  with  foreigners,  except  with  those  who  had  an 
official  right  to  enter  the  Palace,  which  they  became  increas- 
ingly unwilling  to  exercise. 

It  was  with  much  regret  that  I  left  Seoul  for  a  journey  in  the 
interior  at  this  most  exciting  time,  when  every  day  brought 
fresh  events  and  rumors,  and  a  coup  d^ etat  of  great  im- 
portance was  believed  to  be  impending;  but  I  had  very  little 
time  at  my  disposal  before  proceeding  to  Western  China  on  a 
long-planned  journey. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

BURIAL   CUSTOMS 

AFTER  the  interpreter  difficulty  had  appeared  as  before 
insurmountable,  I  was  provided  with  one  who  acquitted 
himself  to  perfection,  and  through  whose  good  offices  I  came 
much  nearer  to  the  people  than  if  I  had  been  accompanied  by 
a  foreigner.  He  spoke  English  remarkably  well,  was  always 
bright,  courteous,  intelligent,  and  good-natured ;  he  had  a 
keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous,  and  I  owe  much  of  the  pleasure, 
as  well  as  the  interest,  of  my  journey  to  his  companionship. 
Mr.  Hillier  equipped  me  with  Im,  a  soldier  of  the  Legation 
Guard,  as  my  servant.  He  had  attended  me  on  photograph- 
ing expeditions  on  a  former  visit,  and  on  the  journey  I  found 
him  capable,  faithful,  quick,  and  full  of  "go," — so  valuable 
and  efficient,  indeed,  as  to  ''take  the  shine"  out  of  any  sub- 
sequent attendant.  With  these,  a  passport,  and  a  kwan-ja  or 
letter  from  the  Korean  Foreign  Office  commending  me  to 
official  help  (never  used),  my  journey  was  made  under  the 
best  possible  auspices. 

The  day  before  I  left  was  spent  in  making  acquaintance  with 
Mr.  Yi  Hak  In,  receiving  farewell  visits  from  many  kind  and 
helpful  friends,  looking  over  the  backs  and  tackle  of  the  ponies 
I  had  engaged  for  the  journey,  and  in  arranging  a  photo- 
graphic outfit.  Im  was  taught  to  make  curry,  an  accomplish- 
ment in  which  he  soon  excelled,  and  I  had  no  other  cooking 
done  on  the  journey.  For  the  benefit  of  future  travellers  I  will 
mention  that  my  equipment  consisted  of  a  camp-bed  and  bed- 
ding, candles,  a  large,  strong,  doubly  oiled  sheet,  a  folding 
chair,  a  kettle,  two  pots,  a  cup  and  two  plates  of  enamelled 
iron,  some  tea  which  turned   out  musty,  some  flour,   curry 

283 


284  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

powder,  and  a  tin  of  Edward's  ''dessicated  soup,"  which  came 
back  unopened  !  To  the  oft-repeated  question,  **  Did  you  eat 
Korean  food  ?  "  I  reply  certainly — pheasants,  fowls,  potatoes, 
and  eggs.  Warm  winter  clothing,  a  Japanese  hirumaya' s  hat 
(the  best  of  all  travelling  hats),  and  Korean  string  shoes 
completed  my  outfit,  and  I  never  needed  anything  I  had  not 
got! 

The  start  on  7th  November  was  managed  in  good  time, 
without  any  of  the  usual  delays,  and  I  may  say  at  once  that 
the  inapic^  the  bugbear  and  torment  of  travellers  usually,  never 
gave  the  slightest  trouble.  Though  engaged  by  the  day,  they 
were  ready  to  make  long  day's  journeys,  were  always  willing 
and  helpful,  and  a  month  later  we  parted  excellent  friends. 
As  this  is  my  second  favorable  experience,  I  am  inclined  to 
til  ink  that  Korean  inapii  are  a  maligned  class.  For  each  pony 
and  man,  the  food  of  both  being  included,  I  paid  ^i,  about 
2S.,  per  day  when  travelling,  and  half  that  sum  when  halting. 
Mr.  Yi  had  two  ponies,  I  two  baggage  animals,  on  one  of  which 
Im  rode,  and  a  saddle  pony,  i.e.  a  pack  pony  equipped  with 
my  sidesaddle  for  the  occasion. 

Starting  from  the  English  Legation  and  the  Customs'  build- 
ings, we  left  the  city  by  the  AVest  Gate,  and  passing  the  stone 
stumps  which  up  till  lately  supported  the  carved  and  colored 
roof  under  which  generations  of  Korean  kings  after  their 
accession  met  the  Chinese  envoys,  who  came  in  great  state  to 
invest  them  with  Korean  sovereignty,  and  through  the  narrow 
and  rugged  defile  known  as  the  Peking  Pass,  we  left  the  unique 
capital  and  its  lofty  clambering  wall  out  of  sight.  The  day 
was  splendid  even  for  a  Korean  autumn,  and  the  frightful 
black  pinnacles,  serrated  ridges,  and  flaming  corrugations  of 
Puk  Han  on  the  right  of  the  road  were  atmospherically  ideal- 
ized into  perfect  beauty.  For  several  miles  the  road  was 
thronged  with  bulls  loaded  with  faggots,  rice,  and  pine  brush, 
for  the  supply  of  the  daily  necessities  of  the  city  ;  then,  except 
when  passing  through  the  villages,  it  became  solitary  enough, 


Burial  Customs  285 

except  for  an  occasional  group  of  long-sworded  Japanese  trav- 
ellers, or  baggage  ponies  in  charge  of  Japanese  soldiers. 

The  road  as  far  as  Pa  Ju  lies  through  pretty  country,  small 
valleys  either  terraced  for  rice,  which  was  lying  out  to  dry  on 
the  dykes,  or  growing  barley,  wheat,  millet,  and  cotton,  sur- 
rounded by  low  but  shapely  hills,  denuded  of  everything  but 
oak  and  pine  scrub,  but  with  folds  in  which  the  Pinus  sinensis 
grew  in  dark  clumps,  lighted  up  by  the  vanishing  scarlet  of 
the  maple  and  the  glowing  crimson  of  the  Ampelopsis  Veitchii. 
On  the  lower  slopes,  and  usually  in  close  proximity  to  the 
timber,  are  numerous  villages,  their  groups  of  deep-eaved, 
brown-thatched  roofs,  on  which  scarlet  capsicums  were  laid 
out  to  dry,  looking  pretty  enough  as  adjuncts  to  landscapes 
which  on  the  whole  lack  life  and  emphasis.  The  villages 
through  which  the  road  passes  were  seen  at  their  best,  for  the 
roadway,  serving  for  the  village  threshing  floor,  was  daily  swept 
for  the  threshing  of  rice  and  millet,  the  passage  of  travellers 
being  a  secondary  consideration  ;  everything  was  dry,  and 
the  white  clothes  of  the  people  were  consequently  at  their 
cleanliest. 

At  noon  we  reached  Ko-yang,  a  poor  place  of  300  hovels, 
with  ruinous  official  buildings  of  some  size,  once  handsome. 
At  this,  and  every  other  magistracy  up  to  Phyong-yang,  from 
20  to  30  Japanese  soldiers  were  quartered  in  \\\tyamens.  The 
people  hated  them  with  a  hatred  which  is  the  legacy  of  three 
centuries,  but  could  not  allege  anything  against  them,  admit- 
ting that  they  paid  for  all  they  got,  molested  no  one,  and  were 
seldom  seen  outside  the  yamen  gates.  There  the  inapu  halted 
for  two  hours  to  give  their  ponies  and  themselves  a  feed.  This 
midday  halt  is  one  bone  of  contention  between  travellers  and 
themselves.  No  amount  of  hunting  and  worrying  them  shortens 
the  halt  by  more  than  ten  minutes,  and  I  preferred  peace  of 
spirit,  only  insisting  that  when  the  road  admitted  of  it,  as  it 
frequently  did,  they  should  travel  12  //,  or  about  three  and 
three-quarter  miles,  an  hour.     At  Ko-yang  I  began  the  custom 


286  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

of  giving  the  landlord  of  the  inn  at  which  I  halted  loo  cash 
for  the  room  in  which  I  rested,  which  gave  great  satisfaction. 
I  had  my  mattress  laid  upon  the  hot  floor,  and  as  Im,  by  in- 
stinct, secured  privacy  for  me  by  fastening  up  mats  and  cur- 
tains over  the  paper  walls  and  doors,  these  midday  halts  were 
very  pleasant.  Almost  every  house  in  these  roadside  villages 
and  small  towns  has  a  low  table  of  such  food  as  Koreans  love 
laid  out  under  the  eaves. 

Beyond  Ko-yang,  standing  out  in  endless  solemnity  above  a 
pine  wood  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill,  are  two  of  the  strangely 
few  antiquities  of  which  Korea  can  boast.  These  are  two 
mirioks,  colossal  busts,  about  35  feet  in  height,  carved  out  of 
the  solid  rock.  They  are  supposed  to  be  relics  of  the  very 
early  days  of  Korean  Buddhism,  when  men  were  religious 
enough  to  toil  at  such  stupendous  works,  and  to  represent  the 
male  and  female  elements  in  nature.  They  are  side  by  side. 
One  wears  a  round  and  the  other  a  square  hat.  The  Bud- 
dhistic calm,  or  rather  I  should  say  apathy,  rests  on  their  huge 
faces,  which  have  looked  stolidly  on  many  a  change  in  Korea, 
but  on  none  greater  than  the  last  year  had  witnessed. 

During  the  day  we  saw  three  funerals,  and  I  observed  that 
a  Japanese  detachment  which  occupied  the  whole  road  filed  to 
the  right  and  left  to  let  one  of  the  processions  pass,  the  men 
raising  their  caps  to  the  corpse  as  they  did  so.  These  funerals 
gave  an  impression  of  gaiety  rather  than  grief.  Two  men 
walked  first,  carrying  silk  bannerets  which  designated  the 
woman  about  to  be  interred  as  the  wife  of  so  and  so,  a  married 
woman  having  no  name.  Next  came  a  man  walking  back- 
wards with  many  streamers  of  colored  ribbon  floating  from  his 
hat,  ringing  a  large  bell,  and  accompanying  its  clang  with  a 
dissonance  supposed  to  be  singing.  The  coffin,  under  a  four- 
posted  domed  cover  and  concealed  by  gay  curtains,  was  borne 
on  a  platform  by  twelve  men,  and  was  followed  by  a  large 
party  of  male  mourners,  a  man  with  a  musical  instrument,  a 
table,  and  a  box  of  food.     None  of  the  faces  were  composed 


Burial  Customs  287 

to  a  look  of  grief.  On  the  dome  were  two  mythical  birds  re- 
sembling the  phoenix.  The  dome  and  curtains  were  brilliantly 
colored,  and  decorated  with  ribbon  streamers.  Two  corpses, 
each  extended  on  a  board  and  covered  with  white  paper  pasted 
over  small  hoops,  lay  in  the  roadway  at  different  places.  These 
were  bodies  of  persons  who  had  died  far  from  home  and  were 
being  conveyed  to  their  friends  for  burial.  Later  we  met  an- 
other funeral,  the  corpse  carried  as  before  on  a  platform  by 
twelve  bearers,  who  moved  to  a  rhythmic  chant  of  the  most 
cheerful  description,  the  whole  party  being  as  jolly  as  if  they 
were  going  to  a  marriage.  There  was  a  cross  in  front  of  the  gay 
hearse  with  an  extended  dragon  on  each  arm,  and  four  large 
gaily  painted  birds  resembling  pheasants  were  on  the  dome. 

Korean  customs  as  to  death  and  burial  deserve  a  brief  notice. 
When  a  man  or  woman  falls  ill,  the  mu-tang  or  sorceress  is 
called  in  to  exorcise  the  spirit  which  has  caused  the  illness. 
When  this  fails  and  death  becomes  imminent,  in  the  case  of  a 
man  no  women  are  allowed  to  remain  in  the  room  but  his 
nearest  female  relations,  and  in  that  of  a  woman  all  men  must 
withdraw  except  her  husband,  father,  and  brother.  After  death 
the  body,  specially  at  the  joints,  is  shampooed,  and  when  it 
has  been  made  flexible  it  is  covered  with  a  clean  sheet  and  laid 
for  three  days  on  a  board,  on  which  seven  stars  are  painted. 
This  board  is  eventually  burned  at  the  grave.  The  "Star 
Board,"  as  it  is  called,  is  a  euphemism  for  death,  and  is  spoken 
of  as  we  speak  of  ''  the  grave."  During  these  days  the  grave- 
clothes,  which  are  of  good  materials  in  red,  blue,  and  yellow 
coloring,  are  prepared.  Korean  custom  enjoins  that  burial 
shall  be  delayed  in  the  case  of  a  poor  man  three  days  only,  in 
that  of  a  middle-class  man  nine  days,  of  a  nobleman  or  high 
official  three  months,  and  in  that  of  one  of  the  Royal  Family 
nine  months,  but  this  period  may  be  abridged  or  extended  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  King. 

Man  is  supposed  to  have  three  souls.  After  death  one  occu- 
pies the  tablet,  one  the  grave,  and  one  the  Unknown.     During 


288  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  passing  of  the  spirit  there  is  complete  silence.  The  under 
garments  of  the  dead  are  taken  out  by  a  servant,  who  waves 
them  in  the  air  and  calls  him  by  name,  the  relations  and  friends 
meantime  wailing  loudly.  After  a  time  the  clothes  are  thrown 
upon  the  roof.  When  the  corpse  has  been  temporarily  dressed, 
it  is  bound  so  tightly  round  the  chest  as  sometimes  to  break 
the  shoulder  blades,  which  is  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  gook  luck. 
After  these  last  offices  a  table  is  placed  outside  the  door,  on 
which  are  three  bowls  of  rice  and  a  squash.  Beside  it  are 
three  pair  of  straw  sandals.  The  rice  and  sandals  are  for  the 
three  sajas^  or  official  servants,  who  come  to  conduct  one  of 
the  souls  to  the  "Ten  Judges."  The  squash  is  broken,  the 
shoes  burned,  and  the  rice  thrown  away  within  half  an  hour 
after  death.  Pictures  of  the  Slptai-wong  or  ''Ten  Judges" 
are  to  be  seen  in  Buddhist  temples  in  Korea.  On  a  man's 
^  death  one  of  his  souls  is  seized  by  their  servants  and  carried 
to  the  Unknown,  where  these  Judges,  who  through  their  spies 
are  kept  well  informed  as  to  human  deeds,  sentence  it  accord- 
ingly, either  to  "a  good  place"  or  to  one  of  the  manifold 
hells.  The  influence  of  Buddhism  doubtless  maintains  the  ob- 
servance of  this  singular  custom,  even  where  the  idea  of  its 
significance  is  lost  or  discredited. 

The  coffin  is  oblong.  Where  interment  is  delayed,  it  is 
hermetically  sealed  with  several  coats  of  lacquer.  Until  the 
funeral  there  is  wailing  daily  in  the  dead  man's  house  at  the 
three  hours  of  meals.  Next  the  geomancer  is  consulted  about 
the  site  for  the  grave,  and  receives  a  fee  heavy  in  proportion  to 
the  means  of  the  family.  He  is  believed  from  long  study  to 
have  become  acquainted  with  all  the  good  and  bad  influences 
which  are  said  to  reside  in  the  ground.  A  fortunate  site 
brings  rank,  wealth,  and  many  sons  to  the  sons  and  grandsons 
of  the  deceased,  and  should  be,  if  possible,  on  the  southerly 
slope  of  a  hill.  He  also  chooses  an  auspicious  day  for  the 
burial. 

In  the  case  of  a  rich  man,  the  grave  with  a  stone  altar  in 


Burial  Customs  289 

front  of  it  is  prepared  beforehand,  in  that  of  a  poor  man  not 
till  the  procession  arrives.  The  coffin  is  placed  in  a  gaily  deco- 
rated hearse,  and  with  wailing,  music,  singing,  wine,  food,  and 
if  in  the  evening,  with  many  colored  lanterns,  the  cortege  pro- 
ceeds to  the  grave.  A  widow  may  accompany  her  husband's 
corpse  in  a  closed  chair,  though  this  appears  unusual,  but  the 
mourners  are  all  men  in  immense  hats,  which  conceal  their 
faces,  and  sackcloth  clothing. 

After  the  burial  and  the  making  of  the  circular  mound  over 
the  coffin,  a  libation  of  wine  is  poured  out  and  the  company 
proceeds  to  sacrifice  and  to  feast.  Offerings  of  wine  and 
dried  fish  are  placed  on  the  stone  altar  in  front  of  the  grave  if 
it  has  been  erected,  or  on  small  tables.  The  relatives,  facing 
these  and  the  grave,  make  five  prostrations,  and  a  formula 
wishing  peace  to  the  spirit  which  is  to  dwell  there  is  repeated. 
Behind  the  grave  similar  offerings  and  prostrations  are  made 
to  the  mountain  spirit,  who  presides  over  it,  and  who  is  the 
host  of  the  soul  committed  to  his  care.  The  wine  is  thrown 
away,  and  the  fish  bestowed  upon  the  servants.  It  will  be  ob- 
served that  no  priest  has  any  part  in  the  ceremonies  connected 
with  death  and  burial,  and  that  two  souls  have  now  been  dis- 
posed of — one  to  the  judgment  of  the  Unknown,  and  the 
other  to  the  keeping  of  the  mountain  spirit. 

A  chair  is  invariably  carried  in  a  funeral  procession  con- 
taining the  memorial,  or,  as  we  say,  the  "ancestral  tablet" 
of  the  deceased,  a  strip  of  white  wood,  bearing  the  family 
name,  set  in  a  socket.  A  part  of  the  inscription  on  this  is 
written  at  the  house,  and  it  is  completed  at  the  grave.  It  is 
carried  back  with  exactly  the  same  style  and  attendance  that 
the  dead  man  would  have  had  had  he  been  living,  for  the  third 
soul  is  supposed  to  return  to  the  house  with  the  mourners,  and 
to  take  up  its  abode  in  the  tablet,  which  is  placed  in  a  vacant 
room  and  raised  on  a  black  lacquer  chair  with  a  black  lacquer 
table  before  it,  on  which  renewed  offerings  are  made  of  bread, 
wine,  cooked  meat,  and  vermicelli  soup,  the  spirit  being  sup- 


290  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

posed  to  regale  itself  with  their  odors.  The  mourners  again 
prostrate  themselves  five  times,  after  which  they  eat  the  offer- 
ings in  an  adjoining  room.  It  is  customary  for  friends  to 
strew  the  rout  of  the  procession  with  paper  money. 

In  the  period  between  the  death  and  the  interment  silence 
is  observed  in  the  house  of  mourning,  and  only  those  visitors 
are  received  who  come  to  condole  with  the  family  and  speak  of 
the  virtues  of  the  departed.  It  is  believed  that  conversation  on 
any  ordinary  topic  will  cause  the  corpse  to  shake  in  the  coffin 
and  show  other  symptoms  of  unrest.  For  the  same  reason  the 
servants  are  very  particular  in  watching  the  cats  of  the  house- 
hold if  there  are  any,  but  cats  are  not  in  favor  in  Korea.  It 
is  terribly  unlucky  for  a  cat  to  jump  over  a  corpse.  It  may 
even  cause  it  to  stand  upright.  After  the  deceased  has 
been  carried  out  of  the  house,  two  or  three  mu-taiigs  or 
sorceresses  enter  it  with  musical  instruments  and  the  other 
paraphernalia  of  their  profession.  After  a  time  one  becomes 
**  inspired  "  by  the  spirit  of  the  dead  man,  and  accurately  im- 
personates him,  even  to  his  small  tricks  of  manner,  movement, 
and  speech.  She  gives  a  narrative  of  his  life  in  the  first  per- 
son singular,  if  he  were  a  bad  man  confessing  his  misdeeds, 
which  may  have  been  unsuspected  by  his  neighbors,  and  if  he 
were  a  good  man,  narrating  his  virtues  with  becoming  modesty. 
At  the  end  she  bows,  takes  a  solemn  farewell  of  those  present, 
and  retires. 

After  the  tablet  has  been  removed  to  the  ancestral  temple, 
and  the  period  of  mourning  is  over,  meals  are  offered  in  the 
shrine  once  every  month,  and  also  on  the  anniversary  of  each 
death,  all  the  descendants  assembling,  and  these  observances 
extend  backwards  to  the  ancestors  of  five  generations.  Thus 
it  is  a  very  costly  thing  to  have  many  near  relations  and  a 
number  of  ancestors,  the  expense  falling  on  the  eldest  son  and 
his  heirs.  A  Korean  gentleman  told  me  that  his  nephew, 
upon  whom  this  duty  falls,  spends  more  upon  it  than  upon  his 
household  expenses. 


Burial  Customs  291 

It  is  not  till  the  three  years'  mourning  for  a  father  has  ex- 
pired that  his  tablet  is  removed  to  the  ancestral  temple  which 
rich  men  have  near  their  houses.  During  the  period  of  mourn- 
ing it  is  kept  in  a  vacant  room,  usually  in  the  women's  apart- 
ments. A  poor  man  puts  it  in  a  box  on  one  side  of  his  room, 
and  when  he  worships  his  other  ancestors,  strips  of  paper 
with  their  names  upon  them  are  pasted  on  the  mud  wall.  I 
have  slept  in  rooms  in  which  the  tablet  lay  smothered  in  dust 
on  one  of  the  crossbeams.  Common  people  only  worship  for 
their  ancestors  of  three  generations.  The  anniversary  of  a 
father's  death  is  kept  with  much  ceremony  for  three  years. 
On  the  previous  night  sacrifice  is  offered  before  the  tablet,  and 
on  the  following  day  the  friends  pay  visits  of  condolence  to  the 
family,  and  eat  varieties  of  food.  During  the  day  they  visit 
the  grave  and  offer  sacrifices  to  the  soul  and  the  mountain 
spirit. 

A  widow  wears  mourning  all  her  life.  If  she  has  no  son 
she  acts  the  part  of  a  son  in  performing  the  ancestral  rites  for 
her  husband.  It  has  not  been  correct  for  widows  to  remarry. 
If,  however,  a  widow  inherits  property  she  occasionally  mar- 
ries to  rid  herself  of  importunities,  in  which  case  she  is  usually 
robbed  and  deserted. 

The  custom  of  tolerating  the  remarriage  of  widows  has, 
however,  lately  been  changed  into  the  right  of  remarriage. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

SONG-DO  :    A   ROYAL   CITY 

IT  grew  dark  before  we  reached  Pa  Ju,  and  the  7napu  were 
in  great  terror  of  tigers  and  robbers.  It  is  unpleasant  to 
reach  a  Korean  inn  after  nightfall,  for  there  are  no  lights  by 
which  to  unload  the  baggage,  and  noise  and  confusion  prevail. 

When  the  traveller  arrives  a  man  rushes  in  with  a  brush, 
stirs  up  the  dust  and  vermin,  and  sometimes  puts  down  a 
coarse  mat.  Experience  has  taught  me  that  an  oiled  sheet  is  a 
better  protection  against  vermin  than  a  pony-load  of  insect 
powder.  I  made  much  use  of  the  tripod  of  my  camera.  It 
served  as  a  candle-stand,  a  barometer  suspender,  and  an  ar- 
rangement on  which  to  hang  my  clothes  at  night  out  of  harm's 
way.  In  two  hours  after  arrival  my  food  was  ready,  after 
which  Mr.  Yi  came  in  to  talk  over  the  day,  to  plan  the  mor- 
row, to  enlighten  me  on  Korean  customs,  and  to  interpret  my 
orders  to  the  faithful  Im,  and  by  8.30  I  was  asleep  ! 

After  leaving  Pa  Ju  the  country  is  extremely  pretty,  and  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  views  in  Korea  is  from  the  height 
overlooking  the  romantically  situated  village  of  Im-jin,  cluster- 
ing along  both  sides  of  a  ravine,  which  terminates  on  the 
broad  Im-jin  Gang,  a  tributary  of  the  Han,  in  two  steep  rocky 
bluffs,  sprinkled  with  the  Pinus  sitiefisis,  the  two  being  con- 
nected by  a  fine,  double-roofed  granite  Chinese  gateway,  in- 
scribed "Gate  for  the  tranquillization  of  the  West."  The 
road  passing  down  the  village  street  reaches  the  water's  edge 
through  this  relic,  one  of  three  or  four  similar  barriers  on  this 
high-road  to  China.  The  Im-jin  Gang,  there  343  yards 
broad,  has  shallow  water  and  a  flat  sandy  shore  on  its  north 

292 


Song-do:  A  Royal  City  293 

side,  but  a  range  of  high  bluffs,  crowned  with  extensive  old 
defensive  works,  lines  the  south  side,  the  gateway  being  the 
only  break  for  many  miles.  Below  these  the  river  is  a  deep 
green  stream,  navigable  for  craft  of  14  tons  for  40  miles  from 
its  mouth.  There  was  a  still,  faintly  blue  atmosphere,  and  the 
sails  of  boats  passing  dreamily  into  the  mountains  over  the  sil- 
ver water  had  a  most  artistic  effect. 

There  are  two  Chinese  bridges  on  that  road,  curved  slabs  of 
stone,  supported  on  four-sided  blocks  of  granite,  giving  one  a 
feeling  of  security,  even  though  they  have  no  parapets.  Korean 
bridges  are  poles  laid  over  a  river,  with  matting  or  brushwood 
covered  with  earth  upon  them,  and  are  usually  full  of  holes. 
These  precarious  structures  had  just  been  replaced  after  the 
summer  rains.  A  mapu  usually  goes  ahead  to  test  their  solid- 
ity. The  region  is  extremely  fertile,  producing  fine  crops  of 
rice,  wheat,  barley,  millet,  buckwheat,  cotton,  sesamum,  cas- 
tor oil,  beans,  maize,  tobacco,  capsicums,  egg  plant,  peas, 
etc.  But  Russian  and  American  kerosene  is  fast  displacing  the 
vegetable  oils  for  burning,  and  is  producing  the  same  revolu- 
tion in  village  evening  life  which  it  has  effected  in  the  Western 
Islands  of  Scotland.  I  never  saw  a  Korean  hamlet  south  of 
Phyong-yang,  however  far  from  the  main  road,  into  which 
kerosene  had  not  penetrated. 

I  was  obliged  to  halt  for  the  night  when  only  10  //from 
Song-do,  all  the  more  regretfully,  because  the  people  were  un- 
willing to  receive  a  foreigner,  and  the  family  room  which  I 
occupied,  only  8  feet  6  inches  by  6  feet,  was  heated  up  to  85°, 
was  poisoned  with  the  smell  of  cakes  of  rotting  beans,  and 
was  so  alive  with  vermin  of  every  description  that  I  was 
obliged  to  suspend  a  curtain  over  my  bed  to  prevent  them 
from  falling  upon  it. 

The  next  morning,  in  an  atmosphere  which  idealized  every- 
thing, we  reached  Song-do,  or  Kai-song,  now  the  second  city 
in  the  kingdom,  once  the  capital  of  Hon-jo,  one  of  the  three 
kingdoms  which  united   to  form   Korea,  and  the  capital  of 


294  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Korea  five  centuries  ago.  A  city  of  60,000  people,  lying  to 
the  south  of  Sang-dan  San,  with  a  wall  ten  miles  in  circum- 
ference running  irregularly  over  heights,  and  pierced  by 
double-roofed  gateways,  with  a  peaked  and  splintered  ridge 
extending  from  Sang-dan  San  to  the  northeast,  its  higher 
summits  attaining  altitudes  of  from  2,000  to  3,000  feet,  it  has 
a  striking  resemblance  to  Seoul. 

The  great  gate  is  approached  by  an  avenue  of  trees,  and  the 
road  is  lined  with  seim-tjeimg-pi,  monuments  to  good  govern- 
ors and  magistrates,  faithful  widows,  and  pious  sons.  A  wide 
street,  its  apparent  width  narrowed  by  two  rows  of  thatched 
booths,  divides  the  city.  It  was  a  scene  of  bustle,  activity, 
and  petty  trade,  something  like  a  fair.  The  women  wear 
white  sheets  gathered  round  their  heads  and  nearly  reaching 
their  feet.  The  street  was  thronged  with  men  in  huge  hats 
and  very  white  clothing,  with  boy  bridegrooms  in  pink  gar- 
ments and  the  quaint  yellow  hats  which  custom  enjoins  for 
several  months  after  marriage,  and  with  mourners  dressed  in 
sackcloth  from  head  to  foot,  the  head  and  shoulders  concealed 
by  peaked  and  scalloped  hats,  the  identity  being  further  dis- 
guised by  two-handled  sackcloth  screens,  held  up  to  their  eyes. 
In  thatched  stalls  on  low  stands  and  on  mats  on  the  ground 
were  all  Korean  necessaries  and  luxuries,  among  which  were 
large  quantities  of  English  piece  goods,  and  hacked  pieces  of 
beef  with  the  blood  in  it,  Korean  killed  meat  being  enough  to 
make  any  one  a  vegetarian.  Goats  are  killed  by  pulling  them 
to  and  fro  in  a  narrow  stream,  which  method  is  said  to  destroy 
the  rank  taste  of  the  flesh ;  dogs  by  twirling  them  in  a  noose 
until  they  are  unconscious,  after  which  they  are  bled.  I  have 
already  inflicted  on  my  readers  an  account  of  the  fate  of  a 
bullock  at  Korean  hands.  It  was  a  busy,  dirty,  poor,  mean 
scene  under  the  hot  sun. 

The  Song-do  inns  are  bad,  and  a  friend  of  Mr.  Yi  kindly 
lent  me  a  house,  partly  in  ruins,  but  with  two  rooms  which 
sheltered  Im  and  myself,  and  in  this  I  spent  two  pleasant  days 


Song-do:  A  Royal  City  295 

in  lovely  weather,  Mr.  Yi,  who  was  visiting  friends,  escorting 
me  to  the  Song-do  sights,  which  may  be  seen  in  one  morning, 
and  to  pay  visits  in  some  of  the  better-class  houses.  My  quar- 
ters, though  by  comparison  very  comfortable,  would  not  at 
home  be  considered  fit  for  the  housing  of  a  better-class  cow  ! 
But  Korea  has  a  heavenly  climate  for  much  of  the  year.  The 
squalor,  dust,  and  rubbish  in  my  compound  and  everywhere 
were  inconceivable,  though  the  city  is  rather  a  "  well-to-do  " 
one.  The  water  supply  is  atrocious,  offal  and  refuse  of  all 
kinds  lying  up  to  the  mouths  of  the  wells.  It  says  something 
for  the  security  of  Korea  that  a  foreign  lady  could  safely  live 
in  a  dwelling  up  a  lonely  alley  in  the  heart  of  a  big  city,  with 
no  attendant  but  a  Korean  soldier  knowing  not  a  word  of  Eng- 
lish, who,  had  he  been  so  minded,  might  have  cut  my  throat 
and  decamped  with  my  money,  of  which  he  knew  the  where- 
abouts, neither  my  door  nor  the  compound  having  any  fasten- 
ing ! 

Points  of  interest  in  a  Korean  city  are  few,  and  the  ancient 
capital  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  There  is  a  fine  bronze  bell 
with  curiously  involved  dragons  in  one  of  the  gate  towers,  cast 
five  centuries  ago,  an  archery  ground  with  official  pavilions  on 
a  height  with  a  superb  view,  the  Governor's  yamen,  once 
handsome,  now  ruinous,  with  Japanese  sentries,  a  dismal  tem- 
ple to  Confucius,  and  a  showy  one  to  the  God  of  War.  Out- 
side the  crowd  and  bustle  of  the  city,  reached  by  a  narrow 
path  among  prosperous  ginseng  farms  and  persimmon-em- 
bowered hamlets,  are  the  lonely  remains  of  the  palace  of  the 
Kings  who  reigned  in  Korea  prior  to  the  dynasty  of  which  the 
present  sovereign  is  the  representative,  and  even  in  their  for- 
lornness  they  give  the  impression  that  the  Korean  Kings  were 
much  statelier  monarchs  then  than  now. 

The  remains  consist  of  an  approach  to  the  main  platform  on 
which  the  palace  stood,  by  two  subsidiary  platforms,  the  first 
reached  by  a  nearly  obliterated  set  of  steps.  Four  staircases 
15   feet  wide,  of  thirty  steps  each,  lead   to  a  lofty  artificial 


296  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

platform,  faced  with  hewn  stone  in  great  blocks,  14  feet  high, 
and  by  rough  measurement  846  feet  in  length.  On  the  east 
side  there  are  massive  abutments.  On  the  west  the  platform 
broadens  irregularly.  At  the  entrance,  80  feet  wide,  at  the 
top  of  the  steps,  there  are  the  bases  of  columns  suggestive  of 
a  very  stately  approach.  The  palace  platform  is  intersected 
by  massive  stone  foundations  of  halls  and  rooms,  some  of  large 
area.  It  is  backed  by  a  pine-clothed  knoll,  and  is  prettily 
situated  in  an  amphitheatre  of  hills. 

Song-do  as  a  royal  city,  and  as  one  of  the  so-called  for- 
tresses for  the  protection  of  the  capital,  still  retains  many  an- 
cient privileges.  It  is  a  bustling  business  town,  and  a  great 
centre  of  the  grain  trade.  It  has  various  mercantile  guilds 
with  their  places  of  business,  small  shops  built  round  com- 
pounds with  entrance  gates.  It  makes  wooden  shoes,  coarse 
pottery  and  fine  matting,  and  imports  paper,  which  it  manu- 
factures with  sesamum  oil  into  the  oil  paper  for  which  Korea 
is  famous,  and  which  is  made  into  cloaks,  umbrellas,  tobacco- 
pouches,  and  sheets  for  walls  and  floors.  In  answer  to  many 
inquiries,  I  learned  that  trade  had  improved  considerably 
since  the  war,  but  the  native  traders  now  have  to  compete  with 
fourteen  Japanese  shops,  and  to  suffer  the  presence  of  forty 
Japanese  residents. 

I  have  left  until  the  last  the  commodity  for  which  Song-do 
is  famous,  and  which  is  the  chief  source  of  its  prosperity — 
ginseng.  Panax  Gifisettg  or  qiiinquefolia  (?)  is,  as  its  name 
imports,  a  ''panacea."  No  one  can  be  in  the  Far  East  for 
many  days  without  hearing  of  this  root  and  its  virtues.  No 
drug  in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia  rivals  with  us  the  estimation 
in  which  this  is  held  by  the  Chinese.  It  is  a  tonic,  a  febri- 
fuge, a  stomachic,  the  very  elixir  of  life,  taken  spasmodically 
or  regularly  in  Chinese  wine  by  most  Chinese  who  can  afford 
it.  It  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  articles  which  Korea  ex- 
ports, and  one  great  source  of  its  revenue.  In  the  steamer  in 
which  I  left  Chemulpo  there  was  a  consignment  of  it  worth 


Song-do:  A  Royal  City  297 

^140,000.  But  valuable  as  the  cultivated  root  is,  it  is  nothing 
to  the  value  of  the  wild,  which  grows  in  Northern  Korea,  a 
single  specimen  of  which  has  been  sold  for  ;!^4o  !  It  is  chiefly 
found  in  the  Kang-ge  Mountains ;  but  it  is  rare,  and  the  search 
so  often  ends  in  failure,  that  the  common  people  credit  it  with 
magical  properties,  and  believe  that  only  men  of  pure  lives 
can  find  it. 

The  ginseng  season  was  at  its  height.  People  talked, 
thought,  and  dreamed  ginseng,  for  the  risks  of  its  six  or  seven 
years'  growth  were  over,  and  the  root  was  actually  in  the  fac- 
tory. I  went  to  several  ginseng  farms,  and  also  saw  the  differ- 
ent stages  of  the  manufacturing  process,  and  received  the 
same  impression  as  in  Siberia,  that  if  industry  were  lucrative, 
and  the  Korean  were  sure  of  his  earnings,  he  would  be  an  in- 
dustrious and  even  a  thrifty  person. 

All  round  Song-do  are  carefully  fenced  farms  on  which  gin- 
seng is  grown  with  great  care  and  exquisite  neatness  on  beds 
18  inches  wide,  2  feet  high,  and  neatly  bordered  with  slates. 
It  is  sown  in  April,  transplanted  in  the  following  spring,  and 
again  in  three  years  into  specially  prepared  ground,  not  re- 
cently cultivated,  and  which  has  not  been  used  for  ginseng 
culture  for  seven  years.  Up  to  the  second  year  the  plant  has 
only  two  leaves.  In  the  fourth  year  it  is  six  inches  high  with 
four  leaves,  standing  out  at  right  angles  from  the  stalk.  It 
reaches  maturity  in  the  sixth  or  seventh  year.  During  its 
growth  it  is  sheltered  from  both  wind  and  sun  by  well-made 
reed  roofs  with  blinds,  which  are  raised  or  lowered  as  may  be 
required.  When  the  root  is  taken  up  it  is  known  as  "  white 
ginseng,"  and  is  bought  by  merchants,  who  get  it  *' manufac- 
tured," about  3j^  catties  of  the  fresh  root  making  one  cattie 
of  "  red  "  or  commercial  ginseng.  The  grower  pays  a  tax  of 
20  cents  per  cattie,  and  the  merchant  16  dollars  2^  cattie  for  the 
root  as  received  from  the  manufacturer. 

The  annual  time  of  manufacture  depends  on  orders  given 
by  the  Government.     The  growers  and  merchants  make  the 


298  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

most  profit  when  the  date  is  early.  Only  two  manufacturers 
are  licensed,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  growers.  The  quan- 
tity to  be  manufactured  is  also  limited.  In  1895  it  was  15,000 
catties  of  red  ginseng  and  3,000  of  ''beards."  The  terms 
*' beards"  and  "tails"  are  used  to  denote  different  parts  of 
the  root,  which  eventually  has  a  grotesque  resemblance  to  a 
headless  man  !  It  is  possible  that  this  likeness  is  the  source  of 
some  of  the  almost  miraculous  virtues  which  are  attributed  to 
it.  Everything  about  the  factories  is  scrupulously  clean,  and 
would  do  credit  to  European  maiuagement.  The  row  of 
houses  used  by  what  we  should  call  the  excisemen  are  well 
built  and  comfortable.  There  are  two  officials  sent  from  Seoul 
by  the  Agricultural  Department  for  the  ''season,"  with  four 
policemen  and  two  attendants,  whose  expenses  are  paid  by  the 
manufacturers,  and  each  step  of  the  manufacture  and  the 
egress  of  the  workmen  are  carefully  watched.  Mr.  Yi  was 
sent  by  the  Customs  to  make  special  inquiries  in  connection 
with  the  revenue  derived. 

Ginseng  is  steamed  for  twenty-four  hours  in  large  earthen  jars 
over  iron  pots  built  into  furnaces,  and  is  then  partially  dried 
in  a  room  kept  at  a  high  temperature  by  charcoal.  The  final 
drying  is  effected  by  exposing  the  roots  in  elevated  flat  baskets 
to  the  rays  of  the  bright  winter  sun.  The  human  resemblance 
survives  these  processes,  but  afterwards  the  "beards"  and 
"tails,"  used  chiefly  in  Korea,  are  cut  off,  and  the  trunk, 
from  3  to  4  inches  long,  looks  like  a  piece  of  clouded  amber. 
These  trunks  are  carefully  picked  over,  and  being  classified 
according  to  size,  are  neatly  packed  in  small  oblong  baskets 
containing  about  five  catties  each,  twelve  or  fourteen  of  these 
being  packed  in  a  basket,  which  is  waterproofed  and  matted, 
and  stamped  and  sealed  by  the  Agricultural  Department  as 
ready  for  exportation.  A  basket,  according  to  quality,  is 
worth  from  $14,000  to  $20,000  !  In  a  good  season  the  grower 
makes  about  fifteen  times  his  outlay.  Ginseng  was  a  Royal 
monopoly,   but  times  have  changed.     This  medicine,  which 


Song-do:  A  Royal  City  299 

has  such  a  high  and  apparently  partially  deserved  reputation 
throughout  the  Far  East,  does  not  suit  Europeans,  and  is  of 
little  account  with  European  doctors. 

A  Post  Office  had  been  established  in  Song-do  under  Korean 
management,  and  I  not  only  received  but  sent  a  letter,  vvh.ch 
reached  its  destination  safely  !  Buddhism  still  prevails  to 
some  extent  in  this  city,  and  large  sums  are  expended  upon  the 
services  of  sorcerers.  In  Song-do  I  saw,  what  very  rarely  may 
be  seen  in  Seoul  and  elsewhere,  a  "  Red  Door."  These  are  a 
very  high  honor  reserved  for  rare  instances  of  faithfulness  in 
widows,  loyalty  in  subjects,  and  piety  in  sons.  When  a  widow 
(almost  invariably  of  the  upper  class)  weeps  ceaselessly  for  her 
husband,  maintains  the  deepest  seclusion,  attends  loyally  to  her 
father-  and  mother-in-law,  and  spends  her  time  in  pious  deeds, 
the  people  of  the  neighborhood,  proud  of  her  virtues,  repre- 
sent them  to  the  Governor  of  the  province,  who  conveys  their 
recommendation  to  the  King,  with  whom  it  rests  to  confer  the 
"  Red  Door  "  The  distinction  is  also  given  to  the  family  ot 
an  eminently  loyal  subject,  who  has  given  his  life  for  the 

King's  life. 

The  case  of  a  son  whose  father  has  reached  a  great  age  is 
somewhat  different,  and  the  honor  is  more  emphatic  still.     His 
filial   virtue  is  shown  by  such   methods  as  these.     He  goes 
every  morning  to  his  father's  apartments,  asks  him  how  his 
health  is,  how  he  has  slept,  what  he  has  eaten  for  breakfast, 
and  how  he  enjoyed  the  meal_if  he  has  any  fancies  for  din- 
ner  and  if  he  shall  go  to  the  market  and  buy  him  some  tat 
(the  best  fish  in  Korea),  and  if  he  shall  come  back  and  assist 
him  to  take  a  walk?     The  reader  will  observe  how  extremely 
material  the  pious  son's   inquiries  are.     Such  assiduity  con- 
tinued during  a  course  of  years,  on  being  represented  to  the 
King,  may  receive  the  coveted  red  portal.     In  former  days 
these  matters  used  to  be  referred  to  the  Suzerain,  the  Emperor 
of  China.     In  Song-do,  as  in  the  villages,  a  straw  fringe  is 
frequently  to  be  seen  stretched  across  a  door,  either  plain  or 


300 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


with  bits  of  charcoal  knotted  into  it.  The  former  denotes  the 
birth  of  a  girl,  the  latter  that  of  a  boy.  A  girl  is  not  specially 
welcome,  nor  is  the  occasion  one  of  festivity,  but  neither  is  it, 
as  in  some  countries,  regarded  as  a  calamity,  although,  if  it 
be  a  firstborn,  the  friends  of  the  father  are  apt  to  write  letters 
of  condolence  to  him,  with  the  consoling  suggestion  that  "the 
next  will  be  a  boy." 


^^ 


4-.^.  n 


CHIL-SUNG  MON,  SEVEN  STAR  GATE. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE   PHYONG-YANG   BATTLEFIELD 

GLORIOUS  weather  favored  my  departure  from  the  an- 
cient Korean  capital.  The  day's  journey  lay  through 
pretty  country,  small  valleys,  and  picturesquely  shaped  hills, 
on  which  the  vegetation,  whatever  it  was,  had  turned  to  a  pur- 
ple as  rich  as  the  English  heather  blossom,  while  the  blue 
gloom  of  the  pines  emphasized  the  flaming  reds  of  the  dying 
leafage.  The  villages  were  few  and  small,  and  cultivation  was 
altogether  confined  to  the  valleys.  Pheasants  were  so  abun- 
dant that  the  mapu  pelted  them  out  of  the  cover  by  the  road- 
side, and  wild  ducks  abounded  on  every  stream.  The  one 
really  fine  view  of  the  day  is  from  the  crest  of  a  hill  just  be- 
yond 0-hung-suk  Ju,  where  there  is  a  second  defensive  gate, 
with  a  ruinous  wall  carried  along  a  ridge  for  some  distance  on 
either  side.  The  masonry  and  the  gate-house  are  fine,  and  the 
view  down  the  wild  valley  beyond  with  its  rich  autumn  color- 
ing was  almost  grand.  It  was  evident  that  officials  were  ex- 
pected, for  the  road  was  being  repaired  everywhere— that  is, 
spadefuls  of  soft  soil  were  being  taken  from  the  banks  and 
roadsides,  and  were  being  thrown  into  the  ruts  and  holes  to 
deepen  the  quagmire  which  the  next  rain  would  produce. 
From  four  to  seven  men  were  working  at  each  spade!  A 
great  part  of  the  male  population  had  turned  out ;  for  when 
an  official  of  rank  is  to  travel,  every  family  in  the  district  must 
provide  one  male  member  or  a  substitute  to  put  the  road  in 
order.  The  repairs  of  the  roads  and  bridges  devolve  entirely 
on  the  country  people. 

The  following  day  brought  a  change  of  weather.     My  room 

301 


302  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

had  no  hot  floor  and  the  mercury  at  daybreak  was  only  20°  ! 
When  we  started,  a  strong  northwester  was  blowing,  which  in- 
creased to  a  gale  by  noon,  the  same  fierce  gale  in  which  at 
Chemulpo  PI. M.S.  Edgar  lost  her  boat  with  forty-seven  men. 
My  pony  and  I  would  have  been  blown  over  a  wretched  bridge 
had  not  four  men  linked  themselves  together  to  support  us ; 
and  later,  on  the  top  of  a  precipice  above  a  river,  a  gust  came 
with  such  force  that  the  animals  refused  to  face  it,  and  one  of 
them  was  as  nearly  lost  as  possible.  By  noon  it  was  impossible 
to  sit  on  our  horses,  and  we  fought  the  storm  on  foot.  When 
Im  lifted  me  from  my  pony  I  fell  down,  and  it  took  several 
men  shouting  with  laughter  to  set  me  on  my  feet  again.  When 
Mr.  Yi  and  I  spoke  to  each  other,  our  voices  had  a  bobbery 
clatter,  and  sentences  broke  off  halfway  in  an  insane  giggle.  I 
felt  as  if  there  were  hardly  another  "shot  in  the  locker,"  but 
if  a  traveller  ''says  die,"  the  men  lose  all  heart,  so  I  sum- 
moned up  all  my  pluck,  took  a  photograph  after  the  noon  halt, 
and  walked  on  at  a  good  pace. 

But  the  wind,  with  the  mercury  at  26°,  was  awful,  gripping 
the  heart  and  benumbing  the  brain.  I  have  not  felt  anything 
like  it  since  I  encountered  the  "devil  wind"  on  the  Zagros 
heights  in  Persia.  At  some  distance  from  our  destination  Mr. 
Yi,  Im,  and  the  mapit  begged  me  to  halt,  as  they  could  no 
longer  face  it,  though  the  accommodation  for  man  and  beast 
at  Tol  Maru,  where  we  put  up,  was  the  worst  imaginable,  and 
the  large  village  the  filthiest,  most  squalid,  and  most  absolutely 
poverty-stricken  place  I  saw  in  that  land  of  squalor.  The 
horses  were  crowded  together,  and  their  baffled  attempts  at 
fighting  were  only  less  hideous  than  the  shouts  and  yells  of  the 
mapiij  who  were  constantly  being  roused  out  of  a  sound  sleep 
to  separate  them. 

My  room  was  8  feet  by  6,  and  much  occupied  by  the  chat- 
tels of  the  people,  besides  being  alive  with  cockroaches  and 
other  forms  of  horrid  life.  The  dirt  and  discomfort  in  which 
the  peasant  Koreans  live  are  incredible. 


The   Phyong-yang  Battlefield  303 

All  uninteresting  tract  of  country  succeeded,  and  some  time 
was  occupied  in  threading  long  treeless  valleys,  cut  up  by  stony 
beds  of  streams,  margined  by  sandy  flats,  inundated  in  sum- 
mer, and  then  covered  chiefly  with  withered  reeds,  asters,  and 
artemisia,  a  belated  aster  every  now  and  then  displaying  its 
untimely  mauve  blossom.  All  these  and  the  dry  grasses  and 
weeds  of  the  hillsides  were  being  cut  and  stacked  for  fuel,  even 
brushwood  having  disappeared.  This  work  is  done  by  small 
boys,  who  carry  their  loads  on  wooden  saddles  suited  to  their 
size.  That  region  is  very  thinly  peopled,  only  a  few  hamlets 
of  squalid  hovels  being  scattered  over  it,  and  cultivation  was  rare 
and  untidy,  except  in  one  fine  agricultural  valley  where  wheat 
and  barley  were  springing.  No  animals,  except  a  breed  of 
pigs  not  larger  than  English  terriers,  were  to  be  seen. 

One  of  the  most  dismal  and  squalid  "  towns  "  on  this  route 
is  Shur-hung,  a  long  rambling  village  of  nearly  5,000  souls, 
and  a  magistracy,  built  along  the  refuse-covered  bank  of  a 
bright,  shallow  stream.  As  if  the  Crown  official  were  the  upas 
tree,  the  town  with  a  yameii  is  always  more  forlorn  than  any 
other.  In  Shur-hung  the  large  and  once  handsome  yamen 
buildings  are  all  but  in  ruins,  and  so  is  the  Confucian  temple, 
visited  periodically,  as  all  such  temples  are,  by  the  magistrate, 
who  bows  before  the  tablet  of  the  ''  most  holy  teacher  "  and 
offers  an  animal  in  sacrifice. 

The  Korean  official  is  the  vampire  which  sucks  the  life- 
blood  of  the  people.  We  had  crossed  the  Tao-jol,  the 
boundary  between  the  provinces  of  Kyong-hwi  and  Hwang- 
hai,  and  were  then  in  the  latter.  Most  officials  of  any  standing 
live  in  Seoul  for  pleasure  and  society,  leaving  subordinates  in 
charge,  and  as  their  tenure  of  office  is  very  brief,  they  regard 
the  people  within  their  jurisdiction  rather  with  reference  to 
their  squeezeableness  than  to  their  capacity  for  improvement. 

Forty  Japanese  soldiers  found  a  draughty  shelter  within  the 
tumble-down  buildings  of  the  yamen.  As  I  walked  down  the 
street  one  of  them  touched  me  on  the  shoulder,  asking  my 


304  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

nationality,  whence  I  came,  and  whither  I  was  going,  not 
quite  politely,  I  thought.  When  I  reached  my  room  a  dozen 
of  them  came  and  gradually  closed  round  my  door,  which  I 
could  not  shut,  standing  almost  within  it.  A  trim  sergeant 
raised  his  cap  to  me,  and  passing  on  to  Mr.  Yi's  room,  asked 
him  where  I  came  from  and  whither  I  was  going,  and  on  hear- 
ing, replied,  "  All  right,"  raised  his  cap  to  me,  and  departed, 
withdrawing  his  men  with  him.  This  was  one  of  several 
domiciliary  visits,  and  though  they  were  usually  very  politely 
made,  they  suggested  the  query  as  to  the  right  to  make  them, 
and  to  whom  the  mastership  in  the  land  belonged.  There,  as 
elsewhere,  though  the  people  hated  the  Japanese  with  an  intense 
hatred,  they  were  obliged  to  admit  that  they  were  very  quiet 
and  paid  for  everything  they  got.  If  the  soldiers  had  not  been 
in  European  clothes,  it  would  not  have  occurred  to  me  to 
think  them  rude  for  crowding  round  my  door. 

A  day's  ride  through  monotonous  country  brought  us  to 
Pong-san,  where  we  halted  in  the  dirtiest  hole  I  had  till  then 
been  in.  As  soon  as  my  den  was  comfortably  warm,  myriads 
of  house  flies,  blackening  the  rafters,  renewed  a  semi-torpid 
existence,  dying  in  heaps  in  the  soup  and  curry,  filling  the 
well  of  the  candlestick  with  their  singed  bodies,  and  crawling 
in  hundreds  over  my  face.  Next  came  the  cockroaches  in 
legions,  large  and  small,  torpid  and  active,  followed  by  a  great 
army  of  fleas  and  bugs,  making  life  insupportable.  To  judge 
from  the  significant  sounds  from  the  public  room,  no  one  slept 
all  night,  and  when  I  asked  Mr.  Yi  after  his  welfare  the  next 
morning,  he  uttered  the  one  word  ''  miserable."  Discomforts 
of  this  nature,  less  or  more,  are  inseparable  from  the  Korean 
inn. 

The  following  day,  at  a  large  village,  we  came  upon  the 
weekly  market.  It  is  usual  to  inquire  regarding  the  trade  of  a 
district,  and  as  the  result  of  my  inquiries,  I  assert  that 
**  trade"  in  the  ordinary  sense  has  no  existence  in  a  great 
part  of  Central  and  Northern  Korea,  i.e.  there  is  no  exchange 


The  Phyong-yang  Battlefield  305 

of  commodities  between  one  place  and  another,  no  exports,  no 
imports  by  resident  merchants,  and  no  industries  supplying 
more  than  a  local  demand.  Such  are  to  be  found  to  some  ex- 
tent in  Southern  Korea,  and  specially  in  the  province  of 
Chul-la.  Apart  from  Phyong-yang,  ''trade"  does  not  exist 
in  the  region  through  which  I  travelled. 

Reasons  for  such  a  state  of  things  may  be  found  in  the  de- 
based coinage,  so  bulky  that  a  pony  can  only  carry  ;£io  worth 
of  it,  the  entire  lack  of  such  banking  facilities  as  even  in 
Western  China  render  business  transactions  easy  ;  the  general 
mutual  distrust ;  prejudices  against  preparing  hides  and  work- 
ing leather ;  caste  prejudices ;  the  general  insecurity  of  earn- 
ings, ignorance  absolutely  inconceivable,  and  the  existence  of 
numerous  guilds  which  possess  practical  monopolies. 

Under  Japanese  influence,  however,  the  superb  silver  yen 
has  made  its  way  slowly  into  the  interior,  and  instead  of  hav- 
ing to  carry  a  load  of  cash,  as  on  my  former  journey,  or  to  be 
placed  in  great  difficulties  by  the  want  of  it,  this  large  silver 
coin  was  readily  taken  at  all  the  inns,  although  I  did  not  see  a 
single  specimen  of  the  new  Korean  coinage. 

''  Trade,"  as  I  became  acquainted  with  it,  is  represented  by 
Japanese  buyers,  who  visit  the  small  towns  and  villages,  buy- 
ing up  rice,  grain,  and  beans,  which  they  forward  to  the  ports 
for  shipment  to  Japan,  and  by  an  organized  corporation  of 
pusang  or  pedlars,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  many 
guilds  which  have  been  among  the  curious  features  of  Korea. 
There  are  no  shops  in  villages,  and  few,  where  there  are 
any,  even  in  small  towns.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  buy 
anything  except  on  the  market-day,  as  no  one  keeps  any  stock 
of  anything.  At  the  weekly  market  the  usual  melancholy 
dulness  of  a  Korean  village  is  exchanged  for  bustle,  color,  and 
crowds  of  men.  From  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  the  paths 
leading  to  the  officially  appointed  centre  are  thronged  with 
peasants  bringing  in  their  wares  for  sale  or  barter,  chiefly 
fowls  in  coops,   pigs,   straw  shoes,   straw  hats,   and  wooden 


3o6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

spoons,  while  the  main  road  has  its  complement  of  merchants, 
i.e.  pedlars,  mostly  fine,  strong,  well-dressed  men,  either  car- 
rying their  heavy  packs  themselves  or  employing  porters  or 
bulls  for  the  purpose.  These  men  travel  on  regular  circuits  to 
the  village  centres,  and  are  industrious  and  respectable.  A 
few  put  up  stalls,  specially  those  who  sell  silks,  gauzes,  cords 
for  girdles,  dress  shoes,  amber,  buttons,  silks  in  skeins,  small 
mirrors,  tobacco-pouches,  dress  combs  of  tortoise-shell  for 
men's  topknots,  tape  girdles  for  trousers,  boxes  with  mirror 
tops,  and  the  like.  But  most  of  the  articles,  from  which  one 
learns  a  good  deal  about  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  required 
by  the  Korean,  are  exposed  for  sale  on  low  tables  or  on  mats 
on  the  ground,  the  merchant  giving  the  occupant  of  the 
house  before  which  he  camps  a  few  cash  for  the  accommoda- 
tion. 

On  such  tables  are  sticks  of  pulled  candy  as  thick  as  an 
arm,  some  of  it  stuffed  with  sesamum  seeds,  a  sweetmeat  sold 
in  enormous  quantities,  and  piece  goods,  shirtings  of  Japanese 
and  English  make,  Victoria  lawns,  hempen  cloth,  Turkey-red 
cottons,  Korean  flimsy  silks,  dyes,  chiefly  aniline,  which  are 
sold  in  great  quantities,  together  with  saffron,  indigo,  and 
Chinese  Prussian  blue.  On  these  also  are  exposed  long  pipes, 
contraband  in  the  capital,  and  Japanese  cigarettes,  coming  into 
great  favor  with  young  men  and  boys,  with  leather  courier 
bags  and  lucifer  matches  from  the  same  country,  wooden 
combs,  hairpins  with  tinsel  heads,  and,  such  is  the  march  of 
ideas,  purses  for  silver  !  Paper,  the  best  of  the  Korean  man- 
ufactures, in  its  finer  qualities  produced  in  Chul-la  Do,  is  hon- 
ored by  stalls.  Every  kind  is  purchasable  in  these  markets, 
from  the  beautiful,  translucent,  buff,  oiled  paper,  nearly  equal 
to  vellum  in  appearance  and  tenacity,  used  for  the  floors  of 
middle-  and  upper-class  houses,  and  the  stout  paper  for  cover- 
ing walls,  to  the  thin,  strong  film  for  writing  on,  and  a  beau- 
tiful fabric,  a  sort  of  frothy  gauze,  for  wrapping  up  delicate 
fabrics,  as  well  as  the  coarse  fibrous  material,  used  for  covering 


The  Phyong-yang   Battlefield  307 

heavy  packages,  and  intermediate  grades,  applied  to  every 
imaginable  purpose,  such  as  the  making  of  string,  almost  all 
manufactured  from  the  paper  mulberry. 

On  mats  on  the  ground  are  exposed  straw  mats,  straw  and 
string  shoes,  flints  for  use  with  steel,  black  buckram  dress  hats, 
coarse,  narrow  cotton  cloth  of  Korean  manufacture,  rope  muz- 
zles for  horses  (much  needed),  sweeping  whisks,  wooden 
sabots,  and  straw,  reed,  and  bamboo  hats  in  endless  variety. 
On  these  also  are  rough  iron  goods,  family  cooking-pots, 
horseshoes,  spade-shoes,  door-rings,  nails,  and  carpenter's 
tools,  when  of  native  manufacture,  as  rough  as  they  can  be ; 
and  Korean  roots  and  fruits,  tasteless  and  untempting,  great 
hard  pears  much  like  raw  parsnips,  chestnuts,  peanuts,  per- 
simmons which  had  been  soaked  in  water  to  take  the  acridity 
out  of  them,  and  ginger.  There  were  coops  of  fowls  and 
piles  of  pheasants,  brought  down  by  falcons,  gorgeous  birds, 
selling  at  six  for  a  yen  (about  4d.  each),  and  torn  and  hacked 
pieces  of  bull  beef. 

One  prominent  feature  of  that  special  market  was  the  native 
pottery,  both  coarse  and  brittle  ware,  clay,  with  a  pale  green 
glaze  rudely  applied,  small  jars  and  bowls  chiefly,  and  a 
coarser  ware,  nearly  black  and  slightly  iridescent,  closely  re- 
sembling iron.  This  pottery  is  of  universal  use  among  the 
poor  for  cooking-pots,  water-jars,  refuse-jars,  receptacles  for 
grain  and  pulse,  and  pickle-jars  5  feet  high,  roomy  enough  to 
hold  a  man,  two  of  which  are  a  bull's  load.  At  that  season 
these  jars  were  in  great  request,  for  the  peasant  world  was  oc- 
cupied, the  men  in  digging  up  a  great  hard  white  radish 
weighing  from  2  to  4  lbs.,  and  the  women  in  washing  its  great 
head  of  partially  blanched  leaves,  which,  after  being  laid 
aside  in  these  jars  in  brine,  form  one  great  article  of  a  Korean 
peasant's  winter  diet. 

Umbrella  hats,  oiled  paper,  hat  covers,  pounded  capsicums, 
rice,  peas,  and  beans,  bean  curd,  and  other  necessaries  of 
Korean  existence,  were  there,  but  business  was  very  dull,  and 


3o8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  crowds  of  people  were  nearly  as  quiet  as  the  gentle  bulls 
which  stood  hour  after  hour  among  them.  Late  in  the  after- 
noon, the  pedlars  packed  up  their  wares  and  departed  e?i  route 
for  the  next  centre,  and  a  good  deal  of  hard  drinking  closed 
the  day.  I  have  been  thus  minute  in  my  description  because 
the  peripatetic  merchant  really  represents  the  fashion  of 
Korean  trade,  and  the  wares  which  are  brought  to  market  are 
both  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  Korean  existence. 

The  reader  will  agree  with  me  that,  except  for  a  certain 
amount  of  insight  into  Korean  customs  which  can  only  be 
gained  by  mixing  freely  with  Koreans,  the  journey  from  Seoul 
to  Phyong-yang  tends  to  monotony,  though  at  the  time  Mr. 
Yi's  brightness,  intelligence,  sense  of  fun,  and  unvarying  good- 
nature made  it  very  pleasant.  Among  the  few  features  of  in- 
terest on  the  road  are  the  "  Hill  Towns,"  of  which  three  are 
striking  objects,  specially  one  on  the  hill  opposite  to  the 
magistracy  of  Pyeng-san,  the  hilltop  being  surrounded  by  a 
battlemented  wall  two  miles  in  circuit,  enclosing  a  tangled 
thicket  containing  a  few  hovels  and  the  remains  of  some 
granaries.  Unwalled  towns  are  supposed  to  possess  such 
strongholds,  with  stores  of  rice  and  soy^  as  refuges  in  times 
of  invasion  or  rebellion,  but  as  they  have  not  been  required 
for  three  centuries,  they  are  now  ruinous.  The  one  on  a  high 
hill  above  Sai-nam,  where  the  last  Chinese  gate  occurs,  is  im- 
posing from  its  fine  gateway  and  the  extent  of  ground  it  en- 
closes. 

Two  days  before  reaching  Phyong-yang  we  crossed  the  high- 
est pass  on  the  road,  and  by  a  glen  wooded  with  such  decid- 
uous trees,  shrubs,  and  trailers  as  ash,  elaeagnus,  euonymus, 
horn-beam,  oak,  lime,  Acanthopanax  ricinifolia,  actinidia  with 
scarlet  berries,  clematis,  Ampelopsis  Veitchii,  etc.,  descended 
to  the  valley  of  the  Nam-chhon,  a  broad  but  shallow  stream 
which  joins  the  Tai-dong.  On  the  right  bank,  where  the 
stream,  crossed  by  a  dilapidated  bridge,  is  128  yards  wide,  the 
town  of  Whang  Ju  is  picturesquely  situated,  36  //  from  the  sea, 


The  Phyong-yang  Battlefield  309 

at  the  base  of  two  low  fir-crowned  hills,  which  terminate  in 
cliffs  above  the  Nam-chhon. 

A  battlemented  wall  9  //  in  circumference,  with  several  fine 
towers  and  gateways,  encloses  the  town,  and  being  carried 
along  the  verge  of  the  cliff  and  over  the  downs  and  ups  of  the 
hills,  has  a  very  striking  appearance.  It  was  a  singularly  at- 
tractive view.  The  Korean  sky  was  at  its  bluest,  and  the  wind- 
ing Nam-chhon  was  seen  in  glimpses  here  and  there  through 
the  broad  fertile  plain  in  reaches  as  blue,*  and  the  broken 
sparkle  of  its  shallow  waters  flashed  in  sapphire  gleams  against 
the  gray  rock  and  the  gray  walls  of  the  city.  On  the  wall, 
and  grouped  in  the  handsome  Water  Gate,  were  a  number  of 
Japanese  soldiers  watching  a  crowd  of  Koreans  spearing  white 
fish  with  three-pronged  forks  from  rafts  made  of  two  bundles 
of  reeds  with  a  cask  lashed  between  them,  and  from  the  bridge 
the  ruinous  state  of  the  walls  and  towers  could  not  be  seen. 

Whang  Ju  is  memorable  to  me  as  being  the  first  place  I  saw 
which  had  suffered  from  the  ravages  of  recent  war.  There  the 
Japanese  came  upon  the  Chinese,  but  there  was  no  fighting  at 
that  point.  Yet  whatever  happened  has  been  enough  to  re- 
duce a  flourishing  town  with  an  estimated  population  of  30,000 
souls  to  one  of  between  5,000  and  6,000,  and  to  destroy  what- 
ever prosperity  it  had. 

I  passed  through  the  Water  Gate  into  a  deplorable  scene  of 
desolation.  There  were  heaps  of  ruins,  some  blackened  by 
fire,  others  where  the  houses  had  apparently  collapsed  "all  of 
a  heap,"  with  posts  and  rafters  sticking  out  of  it.  There  are 
large  areas  of  nothing  but  this  and  streets  of  deserted  houses, 
sadder  yet,  with  doors  and  windows  gone  for  the  bivouac  fires 
of  the  Japanese,  and  streets  where  roofless  mud  walls  alone 
were  standing.  In  some  parts  there  were  houses  with  windows 
gone  and  torn  paper  waving  from  their  walls,  and  then  per- 
haps an  inhabited  house  stood  solitary  among  the  deserted  or 
destroyed,  emphasizing  the  desolation.  Some  of  the  destruc- 
tion was  wrought  by  the  Chinese,  some  by  the  Japanese,  and 


310  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

much  resulted  from  the  terrified  flight  of  more  than  20,000  of 
the  inhabitants. 

North  of  Whang  Ju  are  rich  plains  of  productive,  stoneless, 
red  alluvium,  extending  towards  the  Tai-dong  for  nearly  40 
miles.  On  these  there  were  villages  partly  burned  and  partly 
depopulated  and  ruinous,  and  tracts  of  the  superb  soil  had 
passed  out  of  cultivation  owing  to  the  flight  of  the  cultivators, 
and  there  was  a  total  absence  of  beasts,  the  splendid  bulls  of 
the  region  having  perished  under  their  loads  en  route  for  Man- 
churia. 

It  was  a  dreary  journey  that  day  through  partially  destroyed 
villages,  relapsing  plains,  and  slopes  denuded  of  every  stick 
which  could  be  burned.  There  were  no  wayfarers  on  the 
roads,  no  movement  of  any  kind,  and  as  it  grew  dusk  the 
mapu  were  afraid  of  tigers  and  robbers,  and  we  halted  for  the 
night  at  the  wretched  hamlet  of  Ko-moun  Tari,  where  I  ob- 
tained a  room  with  delay  and  difficulty,  partly  owing  to  the 
unwillingness  of  the  people  to  receive  a  foreigner.  They  had 
suffered  enough  from  foreigners,  truly  ! 

The  concluding  day's  march  was  through  a  pleasant  country, 
though  denuded  of  trees,  and  the  approach  to  a  great  city  was 
denoted  by  the  number  of  villages,  daemon  shrines,  and  refresh- 
ment booths  on  the  road,  the  increased  traffic,  and  eventually, 
by  a  long  avenue  of  stone  tablets,  some  of  them  under  highly 
decorated  roofs,  recording  the  virtues  of  Phyong-yang  officials 
for  250  years  ! 

The  first  view  of  Phyong-yang  delighted  me.  The  city  has 
a  magnificent  situation,  taken  advantage  of  with  much  skill, 
and  at  a  distance  merits  the  epithet  "imposing."  It  was  a 
glorious  afternoon.  All  the  low  ranges  which  girdle  the  rich 
plain  through  which  the  Tai-dong  winds  were  blue  and  violet, 
melting  into  a  blue  haze,  the  crystal  waters  of  the  river  were 
bluer  still,  brown-sailed  boats  drifted  lazily  with  the  stream, 
and  above  it  the  gray  mass  of  the  city  rose  into  a  dome  of  un- 
clouded blue. 


The  Phyong-yang   Battlefield  311 

It  is  built  on  lofty  ground  rising  abruptly  from  the  river, 
above  which  a  fine  wall  climbs  picturesquely  over  irregular, 
but  always  ascending  altitudes,  till  it  is  lost  among  the  pines 
of  a  hill  which  overhangs  the  Tai-dong.  The  great  double- 
roofed  Tai-dong  Mon  (river  gate),  decorated  pavilions  on  the 
walls,  the  massive  curled  roofs  of  the  Governor's  j^;;/^;?,  a  large 
Buddhist  monastery  and  temple  on  a  height,  and  a  fine  temple 
to  the  God  of  War,  prominent  objects  from  a  distance,  prepare 
one  for  something  quite  apart  from  the  ordinary  meanness  of 
a  Korean  city. 

Crossing  the  clear  flashing  waters  of  the  Tai-dong  with  our 
ponies  in  a  crowded  ferry-boat,  we  found  ourselves  in  the  slush 
of  the  dark  Water  Gate,  at  all  hours  of  the  day  crowded  with 
water-carriers.  There  are  no  wells  in  the  city,  the  reason  as- 
signed for  the  deficiency  being  that  the  walls  enclose  a  boat- 
shaped  area,  and  that  the  digging  of  wells  would  cause  the 
boat  to  sink  !  The  water  is  carried  almost  entirely  in  Ameri- 
can kerosene  tins.  I  lodged  at  the  house  of  a  broker,  and  had 
nice  clean  rooms  for  myself  and  Im,  quite  quiet,  and  with  a 
separate  access  from  the  street.  It  was  truly  a  luxury  to  have 
roof,  walls,  and  floor  papered  with  thick  oiled  paper  much  re- 
sembling varnished  oak,  but  there  was  no  hot  floor,  and  I  had 
to  rely  for  warmth  solely  on  the  "  fire  bowl." 

Taking  a  most  diverting  boy  as  my  guide,  I  went  outside 
the  city  wall,  through  some  farming  country  to  a  Korean  house 
in  a  very  tumble-to-pieces  compound,  which  he  insisted  was 
the  dwelling  of  the  American  missionaries;  but  I  only  found 
a  Korean  family,  and  there  were  no  traces  of  foreign  occu- 
pation in  glass  panes  let  into  the  paper  of  the  windows  and 
doors.  Nothing  daunted,  the  boy  pulled  me  through  a  smaller 
compound,  opened  a  door,  and  pushed  me  into  what  was  mani- 
festly posing  as  a  foreign  room,  gave  me  a  chair,  took  one  him- 
self, and  offered  me  a  cigarette  ! 

I  had  reached  the  right  place.  It  was  a  very  rough  Korean 
room,  about  the  length  and  width  of  a  N.W.  Railway  saloon 


312  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

carriage.  It  had  three  camp-beds,  three  chairs,  a  trunk  for  a 
table,  and  a  few  books  and  writing  materials,  as  well  as  a  few 
articles  of  male  apparel  hanging  on  the  mud  walls.  I  waited 
more  than  an  hour,  every  attempt  at  departure  being  forcibly 
as  well  as  volubly  resisted  by  the  urchin,  imagining  the  devo- 
tion which  could  sustain  educated  men  year  after  year  in  such 
surroundings,  and  then  they  came  in  hilariously,  and  we  had 
a  most  pleasant  evening.  I  shall  say  more  of  them  later.  It 
was  a  weird  walk  through  ruins  which  looked  ghostly  in  the 
starlight  to  my  curious  quarters  in  the  densest  part  of  the  city 
by  the  Water  Gate,  where  at  intervals  through  the  night  I  heard 
the  beat  of  the  sorcerer's  drum  and  the  shrieking  chant  of  the 
mu-tang. 

It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  every  Korean  winter  day  is 
splendid,  but  the  following  day  in  Phyong-yang  was  heavenly. 
Three  Koreans  called  on  me  in  the  morning,  very  courteous 
persons,  but  as  Mr.  Yi  and  I  had  parted  company  for  a  time 
on  reaching  the  city,  the  interpretation  was  feeble,  and  we 
bowed  and  smiled,  and  smiled  and  bowed  with  tedious  iter- 
ation without  coming  to  much  mutual  understanding,  and  I 
was  glad  when  the  time  came  for  seeing  the  city  and  battle- 
field under  Mr.  Moffett's  guidance. 

On  such  an  incomparable  day  everything  looked  at  its  very 
best,  but  also  at  its  very  worst,  for  the  brilliant  sunshine  lit  up 
desolations  sickening  to  contemplate, — a  prosperous  city  of 
80,000  inhabitants  reduced  to  decay  and  15,000 — four-fifths 
of  its  houses  destroyed,  streets  and  alleys  choked  with  ruins, 
hill  slopes  and  vales  once  thick  with  Korean  crowded  home- 
steads, covered  with  gaunt  hideous  remains — fragments  of 
broken  walls,  kang  floors,  kang  chimneys,  indefinite  heaps  in 
which  roofs  and  walls  lay  in  unpicturesque  confusion — and 
still  worse,  roofs  and  walls  standing,  but  doors  and  windows 
all  gone,  suggesting  the  horror  of  human  faces  with  their  eyes 
put  out.  Everywhere  there  were  the  same  scenes,  miles  of 
them,    and    very    much   of    the   desolation  was  charred  and 


The  Phyong-yang  Battlefield  313 

blackened,  shapeless,  hideous,  hopeless,  under  the  mocking 
sunlight. 

Phyong-yang  was  not  taken  by  assault ;  there  was  no  actual 
fighting  in  the  city,  both  the  Chinese  who  fled  and  the  Japa- 
nese who  occupied  posed  as  the  friends  of  Korea,  and  all  this 
wreck  and  ruin  was  brought  about  not  by  enemies,  but  by 
those  who  professed  to  be  fighting  to  give  her  independence 
and  reform.  It  had  gradually  come  to  be  known  that  the 
"  woje?i  (dwarfs)  did  not  kill  Koreans,"  hence  many  had  re- 
turned. Some  of  these  unfortunate  fugitives  were  picking 
their  way  among  the  heaps,  trying  to  find  indications  which 
might  lead  them  to  the  spots  where  all  they  knew  of  home 
once  existed  ;  and  here  and  there,  where  a  family  found  their 
walls  and  roof  standing,  they  put  a  door  and  window  into  one 
room  and  lived  in  it  among  the  ruins  of  five  or  six. 

When  the  Japanese  entered  and  found  that  the  larger  part 
of  the  population  had  fled,  the  soldiers  tore  out  the  posts  and 
woodwork,  and  often  used  the  roofs  also  for  fuel,  or  lighted 
fires  on  house  floors,  leaving  them  burning,  when  the  houses 
took  fire  and  perished.  They  looted  the  property  left  by  the 
fugitives  during  three  weeks  after  the  battle,  taking  even  from 
Mr.  Mofl'ett's  house  ^700  worth,  although  his  servant  made  a 
written  protest,  the  looting  being  sanctioned  by  the  presence 
of  officers.  Under  these  circumstances  the  prosperity  of  the 
most  prosperous  city  in  Korea  was  destroyed.  If  such  are  the 
results  of  war  in  the  '*  green  tree,"  what  must  they  be  in  the 
''dry"? 

During  the  subsequent  occupation  the  Japanese  troops  be- 
haved well,  and  all  stores  obtained  in  the  town  and  neighbor- 
hood were  scrupulously  paid  for.  Intensely  as  the  people 
hated  them,  they  admitted  that  quiet  and  good  order  had  been 
preserved,  and  they  were  very  apprehensive  that  on  their  with- 
drawal they  would  suff'er  much  from  the  Kun-ren-tai,  a  regi- 
ment of  Koreans  drilled  and  armed  by  the  Japanese,  and  these 
had  already  begun  to  rob  and  beat  the  people,  and  to  defy  the 


314  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

civil  authorities.  The  main  street  on  my  second  visit  had  as- 
sumed a  bustling  appearance.  There  was  much  building  up 
and  pulling  down,  for  Japanese  traders  had  obtained  all  the 
eligible  business  sites,  and  were  transforming  the  small,  dark, 
low,  Korean  shops  into  large,  light,  airy,  dainty  Japanese  erec- 
tions, well  stocked  with  Japanese  goods,  and  specially  with 
kerosene  lamps  of  every  pattern  and  price,  the  Defries  and 
Hinckes  patents  being  unblushingly  infringed. 

Phyong-yang  has  a  truly  beautiful  situation  on  the  right  or 
north  bank  of  the  clear,  bright  Tai-dong,  400  yards  wide  at 
the  ferry.  It  occupies  an  undulating  plateau,  and  its  wall, 
parallel  for  two  miles  and  a  half,  rises  from  the  river  level  at 
the  stately  Water  Gate,  and  following  its  windings,  mounts  es- 
carped hills  to  a  height  of  over  400  feet,  turning  westwards  at 
the  crest  of  the  cliff  at  a  sharp  angle  marked  by  a  pavilion, 
one  of  several,  and  follows  the  western  ridge  of  the  plateau, 
where  it  falls  steeply  down  to  a  fertile  rolling  plain  where  the 
one  real  battle  of  the  late  war  was  fought. 

This  wall,  which  is  in  excellent  repair,  is  a  loopholed  and 
battlemented  structure,  20  feet  high,  pierced  by  several  gates 
with  gate  towers.  The  city,  large  as  it  was,  was  once  much 
larger,  for  the  old  wall  on  the  west  side  encloses  a  far  larger 
area  than  the  modern  one.  The  walk  over  the  grassy  undu- 
lations within  the  wall  and  up  to  the  northern  pine-clothed 
summit  is  entrancing,  and  the  views,  even  in  winter,  are  ex- 
quisite— eastwards  over  a  rich  plain  to  the  mountains  through 
which  the  Tai-dong  cuts  its  way,  or  northwest  to  one  of  its 
affluents  and  the  great  battlefield  over  which  in  1593  the  joint 
forces  of  Chinese  and  Koreans  poured  to  recover  Phyong-yang 
from  the  Japanese,  or  seawards  where  the  clear  bright  waters 
wind  through  fertile  and  populous  country,  or  the  hilly  area 
within  the  walls  where  pine-clothed  knolls  conceal  the  devas- 
tations, and  the  Governor's  ymnen,  temples,  and  monasteries 
make  a  goodly  show. 

Between  the  city  and  the  Chinese  frontier  is  the  largest  and 


The   Phyong-yang   Battlefield  315 

richest  plain  in  Korea;  to  the  east  where  the  violet  shadows 
lay  are  the  valleys  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Tai-dong,  rich 
in  silk,  iron,  and  cotton,  while  within   10  miles  there  are  at 
least  five  coal-mines,^  and  for  all  produce  there  is  easy  com- 
munication with  the  sea,  36  miles  distant,  for  vessels  of  light 
draught,  by  means  of  the  river  which  flows  below  the  city 
wall.     Timber  is  rafted  down  the  Tai-dong  in  summer.     The 
Peking  road,  which  I  had  followed  thus  far,  and  which  for 
centuries  has  linked  Phyong-yang  with  the  outer  world  and 
the  capital,  is  another  element  in  the  former  prosperity  of  the 
city.     It  was  to  photograph  for  the  widow  and  family  of  Gen- 
eral Tso  of  Mukden,  the  commander  of  the   best-disciplined 
and  best-equipped  cavalry  brigade  in  the  Chinese  army,  the 
scenes  connected  with  his  last  days  and  death  that  I  visited 
the  hill  within  the  wall. 

The  river  wall  of  Phyong-yang,  after  2  miles  of  an  undulat- 
ing ascent,  turns  sharply  at  a  pavilion,  outside  of  which  the 
ground  falls  precipitously,  to  rise  again  in  a  knife-like  ridge, 
the  three  highest  points  of  which  are  crowned  with  Chinese 
forts.  From  this  pavilion  the  wall,  following  the  lie  of  the 
hill  slopes  rapidly  down  to  a  very  picturesque  and  narrow 
gate,  the  Chil-sung  Man  or  Seven  Star  Gate,  after  which  it 
trends  in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  the  Fotong  Mon. 

i  There  are  five  coal-mines  at  distances  varying  from  lO  to  30  It  from 
Phyong-yang,  those  of  Yang-tang,  15  H  away,  producing  the  best  quahty. 
With  rich  iron  ore  close  to  the  river  bank  at  Kai  Chhon,  about  36  h  off, 
the  elements  of  prosperity  are  ready  to  hand.  The  "  coal-owners'"  have 
no  proper  appliances  for  working  the  coal,  relying  chiefly  on  Korean 
axes,  and  the  "output"  is  very  small.  Much  money  has  been  spent  m 
trying  to  get  the  coal,  and  in  two  mines  they  cannot  proceed  any  farther 
with  their  present  tools.  The  difficulties  of  transport  are  great,  and  there 
is  no  demand  for  any  quantity  in  Phyong-yang  itself,  but  the  minei^l  is 
there  in  abundance  and  of  good  quality,  and  only  awaits  capital  and  en- 
terprise. A  tax  of  5  per  cent,  is  levied  on  all  coal  sent  away  from  the 
mines.  The  total  export  for  1895  was  only  652  tons,  valued  at  4  dols. 
20  cts.  per  ton  (9s.)- 


316  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

In  the  pine  wood,  at  the  highest  part  of  the  angle  formed 
by  the  wall,  General  Tso  had  built  three  mud  forts  or  camps 
with  walls  10  feet  high.  The  ground  under  the  trees  is  dotted 
with  the  stone-lined  cooking  holes  of  his  men,  blackened  with 
the  smoke  of  their  last  fires.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  15th  of 
September,  1894,  General  Tso  and  his  force,  which  mustered 
5,000  men  when  it  left  Mukden,  but  must  have  been  greatly- 
diminished  by  desertion  and  death,  made  his  fatal  sally,  pass- 
ing through  the  Chil-sung  M'on  and  down  the  steep  zigzag  de- 
scent below  it  to  the  plain,  meeting  his  death  probably  within 
300  yards  of  the  gate.  The  Koreans  say  that  some  of  his  men 
took  up  the  body,  but  were  shot  by  the  Japanese  while  remov- 
ing it,  and  that  it  was  lost  in  the  slaughter  which  ensued.  A 
neat  obelisk,  railed  round,  was  erected  by  the  Japanese  at  the 
supposed  spot,  bearing  on  one  face  the  inscription : — 

Tso  Pao-kuei,  commander-in-chief  of  the  Feng-tien  division.  Place  of 
death. 

And  on  the  other • 


Killed  while  fighting  with  the  Japanese  troops  at  Phyong-yang. 

A  graceful  tribute  to  their  ablest  foe. 

General  Tso's  troops,  demoralized  by  his  death,  sought 
refuge  everywhere  from  the  deadly  fire  of  the  Japanese,  a  part 
flying  back  to  their  forts  within  the  wall,  while  many,  prob- 
ably blinded  and  desperate,  rode  along  the  pine  woods  which 
densely  cover  the  broken  ground  outside,  by  a  path  along  a 
wide  dry  moat,  which,  three  weeks  later,  when  Mr.  Moffett 
returned,  was  piled  with  the  dead  bodies  of  their  horses. 

In  the  bright  moonlight  night  which  followed  that  day,  the 
Japanese  stormed  and  took  by  assault  the  three  Chinese  forts 
on  the  three  summits  of  the  ridge,  which  were  the  key  of  tlie 
position,  enabling  them  to  throw  their  shell  into  the  Chinese 
forts  and  camps  within  the  wall.  The  beautiful  pavilion  at 
the  angle  of  the  wall  is  much  shattered,  and  big  fragments  of 
shell  are  embedded  in  its  pillars  and  richly  carved  woodwork. 


The  Phyong-yang   Battlefield  317 

So  desperately  hurried  was  the  flight  of  the  vanquished  from 
the  last  fort  which  held  out,  that  they  were  mown  down  in 
numbers  as  they  ran  down  the  steep  hill,  falling  face  foremost 
with  their  outstretched  hands  clutching  the  earth. 

All  was  then  lost,  and  why  that  doomed  army,  numbering 
then  perhaps  12,000  men,  did  not  surrender  unconditionally,  I 
cannot  imagine.  During  the  night,  abandoning  guns  and  all  war 
material,  the  remains  of  Tso's  brigade  and  all  the  infantry 
and  unwounded  men  passed  through  the  deserted  and  silent 
city,  surged  out  of  the  Potong  Mon,  crossed  a  shallow  stream, 
and  emerged  upon  a  plain  girdled  by  low  hills,  and  intersected 
by  the  Peking  road,  the  eastern  extremity  being  occupied  by 
some  Chinese  forts  and  breastworks.  Tso's  cavalry  attempted 
to  cross  the  plain  and  gain  the  shelter  of  some  low  hills,  while 
great  numbers  of  the  infantry  took  to  the  Peking  road. 

The  horrors  of  that  night  will  never  be  accurately  known. 
The  battle  of  Phyong-yang  was  lost  and  won  when  the  forts 
were  taken.  What  remained  was  less  of  a  battle  than  a  mas- 
sacre. Before  the  morning,  this  force,  the  flower  of  the  Chi- 
nese army  as  to  drill  and  equipment,  had  perished,  those  who 
escaped  never  reappearing  as  an  organized  body.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  from  2,000  to  4,000  men  were  slain,  with  thou- 
sands of  horses  and  bulls,  the  cavalry  being  literally  mown 
down  in  hundreds,  and  lying,  men  and  horses,  heaped  "  in 
mounds."  For  the  Japanese  had  girdled  the  plain  with  a  ring 
of  fire.  Mr.  Moffett,  who  was  there  three  weeks  later,  de- 
scribed the  scene  even  then  as  one  of  ''  indescribable  horror." 
Still,  there  were  "  mounds  "  of  men  and  horses  stiffened  in  the 
death-agony,  many  having  tried  vainly  to  extricate  themselves 
from  the  pile  above  them.  There  were  blackened  corpses  in 
hundreds  lying  along  the  Peking  road,  ditches  filled  up  with 
bodies  of  men  and  animals,  fields  sprinkled  with  them,  and 
rifles,  muskets,  paper  umbrellas,  fans,  coats,  hats,  swords 
belts,  scabbards,  cartridge  boxes,  sleeves,  and  everything  that 
could  be  cast  away  in  a  desperate  flight  strewing  the  ground. 


318  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Numbers  of  the  wounded  crept  into  the  deserted  houses  and 
died  there,  some  of  the  bodies  showing  indications  of  suicide 
from  agony,  and  throughout  this  mass  of  human  relics  which 
lay  blackening  and  festering  in  the  hot  sun,  dogs,  left  behind 
by  their  owners,  were  holding  high  carnival.  Even  in  my 
walks  over  the  battlefield,  though  the  grain  of  another  year 
had  ripened  upon  it,  I  saw  human  skulls,  spines  with  ribs, 
spines  with  the  pelvis  attached,  arms  and  hands,  hats,  belts, 
and  scabbards. 

On  a  lofty  knoll  within  the  wall,  the  Japanese  have  erected 
a  fine  monolith  to  the  memory  of  the  168  men  they  lost. 
They  turned  the  temple  of  the  God  of  War  into  a  hospital, 
and  there,  cela  va  sans  dire,  their  wounded  were  admirably 
treated,  and  in  another  building  the  Chinese  wounded  were 
carefully  attended  to,  though  naturally  not  till  many  of  them 
had  died  of  their  wounds  on  the  battlefield.  A  ghastly  ret- 
ribution followed  the  neglect  to  bury  the  Chinese  dead,  for 
typhus  fever  broke  out,  and  its  ravages  among  the  Japanese 
troops  may  be  partially  estimated  by  the  long  lines  of  graves 
in  the  military  cemetery  at  Chemulpo. 

Outside  the  wall,  in  beautifully  broken  ground,  roughly 
wooded  with  the  Finns  sinensis,  there  are  still  bullets  in  the 
branches,  many  of  which  were  splintered  by  the  iron  hail,  and 
the  temple  at  the  tomb  of  Kit-ze,  the  founder  of  Korean  civ- 
ilization, must  have  been  the  centre  of  a  deadly  fight,  for  its 
woodwork  is  riddled  with  bullets  and  damaged  by  shell,  and 
on  its  floor  are  great  dark  stains,  where,  when  the  fight  was 
over,  the  Japanese  wounded  lay  in  pools  of  blood. 

At  some  points,  specially  at  the  mud  forts  by  the  ferry,  the 
Chinese  made  a  very  determined  stand  for  ten  hours,  so  that 
the  Japanese  troops  wavered,  and  were  only  recovered  by  a 
gallant  dash  made  by  General  Oshima.  Probably  the  battle 
of  Phyong-yang  decided  the  fate  of  the  campaign. 

Mr.  Yi  found  an  old  book  in  eighteen  vols;  for  sale,  which 
gives  a  history  of  this  city.     Most  Korean  matters  are  lost  in 


"^^^^^^ 


«'  V«»B 


1^ 


;VIC 


The   Phyong-yang   Battlefield  319 

obscurity  after  one  or  two  centuries,  but  the  story  of  Phyong- 
yang  takes  a  bold  backward  leap  and  deals  fearlessly  with  the 
events  of  centuries  b.  c.  Kit-ze,  whose  fine  reputed  tomb  and 
temples  in  the  wood  are  still  regarded  with  so  much  reverence 
that  a  stone  tablet  on  the  road  below  warns  equestrians  to  dis- 
mount in  passing  so  sacred  a  place,  and  who  is  said  to  have 
emigrated  from  China  in  1122  B.C.,  and  to  have  founded  a 
dynasty  which  lasted  for  seven  centuries,  made  Phyong-yang 
his  capital.  The  temple  at  his  reputed  grave,  though  full  of 
bullets,  is  in  admirable  repair,  and  its  rich  decorations  have 
lately  been  renovated,  a  phenomenon  in  Korea.  Near  the  city 
is  the  standard  of  land  measurement  which  he  introduced, 
illustrated  by  ditches  and  paths  cut,  it  is  said,  by  himself. 

The  temple  to  the  God  of  War  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  is  per- 
haps the  finest  in  Korea.  Frescoes,  as  in  the  temple  to  the 
same  god  outside  the  South  Gate  of  Seoul,  but  on  a  far  grander 
scale,  cover  the  walls  of  the  corridors  of  one  of  the  court- 
yards, and  the  gigantic  figures  round  the  altar,  with  the  sacri- 
ficial utensils,  hangings,  and  dresses,  are  costly  and  magnifi- 
cent. Not  far  from  this  is  a  large  and  wealthy  Buddhist 
monastery. 


CHAPTER  XXVn 

NORTHWARD     HO  ! 

FOR  the  northern  journey  simple  preparations  only  were 
needed,  consisting  of  the  purchase  of  candles  and  two 
blankets  for  Im,  in  having  two  pheasants  cooked,  in  dispens- 
ing with  one  pony,  leaving  us  the  moderate  allowance  of  two 
baggage  animals,  and  in  depositing  most  of  my  money  with 
Mr.  Moffett.  For  there  were  rumors  of  robbers  on  the  road, 
and  Mr.  Yi  left  his  fine  clothes  and  elegant  travelling  gear  also 
behind. 

On  a  brilliant  morning  (and  when  are  Korean  mornings  not 
brilliant?),  passing  through  the  gate  out  of  which  General  Tso 
made  his  last  sally,  and  down  the  steep  declivity  on  which  it 
opens,  we  travelled  for  a  time  along  the  An  Ju  road,  skirting 
the  base  of  the  hill  on  which  the  Chinese  cavalry  made  their 
desperate  attack  on  an  intrenched  position,  and  near  the  ruins 
of  two  intrenched  camps,  where  they  fell  in  hundreds  before 
the  merciless  fire  of  the  enemy,  and  where  human  bones  were 
still  lying  about.  But  where  Death  reaped  that  ghastly  harvest 
magnificent  grain  crops  had  recently  been  secured,  and  the 
mellow  sunlight  shone  on  miles  of  stubble. 

Shortly  we  turned  off  on  a  road  untouched  by  the  havoc  of 
war,  and  saw  no  more  of  the  gaunt  ruins  or  charred  remains 
of  cottages.  In  that  pleasant  region  ranges  of  hills  with  pines 
on  their  lower  slopes  girdle  valleys  of  rich  stoneless  alluvium, 
producing  abundantly  cotton,  tobacco,  caster  oil,  wheat, 
barley,  peas,  beans,  and  most  especially,  the  red  and  white 
millet.  Wherever  a  lateral  valley  descends  upon  the  one 
through  which  the  road  passes,  there  is  a  village  of  thatched 

320 


Northward  Hoi  321 

houses,  pretty  enough  at  a  distance  and  embowered  in  fruit 
trees,  while  clumps  of  pines,  oaks,  elms,  and  zelkawas  denote 
the  burial-places  of  its  dead,  who  are  the  guardians  of  the  only- 
fine  timber  which  is  suffered  to  exist. 

The  hamlets  along  the  road  were  cheerfully  busy.  Millet 
was  stacked  in  the  village  roadways,  leaving  only  room  for  one 
laden  animal  to  pass  at  a  time,  and  as  all  the  threshing  of  rice 
and  grain  is  done  with  double  flails  also  in  the  village  street, 
one  actually  rides  over  the  threshed  product.  The  red  or 
large  millet  is  nearly  as  useful  to  the  Korean  as  is  the  bamboo 
to  the  Chinese.  Its  stalks  furnish  fuel,  material  for  mats  and 
thick  woven  fences,  and  even  for  houses,  for  in  Phyong-an  Do 
the  walls  are  formed  of  bundles  of  millet  stalks  8  feet  high  for 
the  uprights,  across  which  single  stalks  are  laid,  the  interstices 
being  filled  up  with  mud. 

After  two  days  of  somewhat  monotonous  prettiness,  beyond 
Shou-yang-yi  the  country  became  really  beautiful.  Some  of 
the  larger  valleys  were  specially  attractive,  with  abundance  of 
fruit  and  other  deciduous  trees  below  the  dark  Pinus  sinensis 
on  the  hill  slopes,  and  there  were  plenty  of  large  villages  with 
a  general  look  of  prosperity,  everything,  clothing  included, 
being  much  cleaner  than  usual.  There  were  fine  views  of 
lofty  dog-tooth  peaks,  and  of  serrated  ranges  running  east  and 
west.  Nearly  every  valley  has  its  bright,  rapid  stream,  on 
which  the  hills  descend  on  one  side  in  abrupt  and  much 
caverned  limestone  cliffs,  the  other  side  being  level  and  fertile. 
The  people  there,  and  doubtless  everywhere,  were  taken  up 
entirely  with  their  own  concerns,  the  new  system  of  taxation 
under  which  a  fixed  tax  in  money  is  levied  on  the  assessed 
value  of  the  land  meeting  with  their  approval.  Events  in 
Seoul  had  no  interest  for  them.  The  recent  murder  of  the 
Queen  and  the  imprisonment  of  the  King  did  not  concern 
them,  as  there  were  no  effects  of  either  on  their  circumstances. 
After  crossing  the  pass  of  Miriok  Yang,  816  feet  in  altitude,  in 
a  romantic  region,  we  entered  poorer  country  with  stony  soil, 


322  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

often  piled  with  large  shingle  by  the  violence  of  streams  then 
perfectly  dry. 

By  misdirection,  misunderstanding,  or  complexity  or  com- 
plete illegibility  of  the  track,  we  spent  much  of  the  day  in 
losing  and  retracing  our  way,  scrambling  up  steep  rock-ladders, 
etc.,  and  when  we  reached  Kai-pang  after  dusk  we  were  for 
some  time  refused  admission  to  the  inn.  The  owner  said  he 
could  not  take  in  any  one  travelling  with  so  many  7napii.  (four) 
and  a  soldier.  He  was  terrified.  He  said  we  should  go  away 
in  the  morning  without  paying  him,  and  should  beat  him  when 
he  asked  to  be  paid  !  However,  the  mapu  gave  me  such  an 
excellent  character  that  at  last  he  consented,  and  I  had  an  ex- 
cellent room, — that  is,  the  walls  and  roof  were  cream-washed, 
which  gave  it  a  look  of  cleanliness.  The  timid  innkeeper  was 
old,  and  this  brought  out  the  fact  that  when  a  local  migistrate 
has  aged  parents,  it  is  customary  for  him  to  invite  to  an  enter- 
tainment everybody  in  his  district  between  the  ages  of  60  and 
100,  and  it  is  usual  for  the  old  men  to  take  their  oldest 
grandsons  with  them  as  testimonies  to  their  old  age.  As  every 
guest  has  to  be  accompanied  fittingly,  the  company  often 
numbers  200. 

At  Ka-chang  and  elsewhere  the  pigsties  are  much  more 
solid  than  the  houses,  being  regular  log  cabins  with  substantial 
roofs  for  the  protection  of  their  inmates  from  tigers,  or  in  that 
neighborhood  from  wolves  (?).  These  pigs,  of  which  every 
country  family  in  Korea  possesses  some,  are  of  an  absurdly 
small  black  breed,  a  full-grown  animal  not  weighing  more 
than  26  lbs. 

During  the  two  days'  journey  from  the  market-place  of 
Sian-chong,  we  passed  the  magistracies  of  Cha-san  and  Un- 
san,  ferrying  the  Tai-dong  just  beyond  Cha-san,  where  it  is  a 
fine  stream  317  yards  broad,  and  is  said  by  the  ferrymen  to  be 
47  feet  deep.  All  that  region  is  well  peopled  and  fertile. 
There  are  no  resident  j(^//^-/^^7//j-  in  the  province  of  Phyong-an. 
Gold  is  obtained  by  a  simple  process  all  round  the  country, 


Northward  Ho!  323 

specially  at  Keum  san.  At  Wol-po,  a  prettily  situated  village, 
and  elsewhere,  a  quantity  of  the  coarser  descriptions  of  paper 
is  made.  Paper  and  tobacco  were  the  goods  that  were  on  the 
move,  bound  for  Phyong-yang. 

Paper  is  used  for  a  greater  variety  of  purposes  in  Korea  than 
anywhere  else,  and  its  toughness  and  durability  render  it  in- 
valuable. The  coarser  sorts  are  made  from  old  rags  and  paper, 
the  finer  from  the  paper  mulberry.  Paper  is  the  one  article  of 
Korean  manufacture  which  is  exported  in  any  quantity  to 
China,  where  it  is  used  for  some  of  the  same  purposes. 

Oil  paper  about  a  sixth  of  an  inch  in  thickness  is  pasted  on 
the  floors  instead  of  carpets  or  mats.  It  bears  washing,  and 
takes  a  high  polish  from  dry  rubbing.  In  the  Royal  Palaces, 
where  two  tints  are  used  carefully,  it  resembles  oak  parquet. 
It  is  also  used  for  walls.  A  thinner  quality  is  made  into  the 
folding,  conical  hat-covers  which  every  Korean  carries  in  his 
sleeve,  and  into  waterproof  cloaks,  coats,  and  baggage  covers. 
A  very  thick  kind  of  paper  made  of  several  thicknesses  beaten 
together  is  used  for  trunks,  which  are  strong  enough  to  hold 
heavy  articles.  Lanterns,  tobacco-pouches,  and  fans  are  made 
of  paper,  and  the  Korean  wooden  latticed  windows  from  the 
palace  to  the  hovel  are  '*  glazed  "  with  a  thin,  white,  tough 
variety,  which  is  translucent.  Much  prized,  however,  were 
my  photographic  glass  plates  when  cleaned.  Many  a  joyful 
householder  let  one  into  his  window,  giving  himself  an  op- 
portunity of  amusement  and  espionage  denied  to  his  neighbors. 

The  day's  journey  from  Ka-chang  to  Tok  Chhon  is  through 
very  attractive  scenery  with  grand  mountain  views.  After 
crossing  a  low  but  severe  pass,  we  came  down  upon  a  large 
affluent  of  the  Tai-dong,  which  for  want  of  a  name  I  designate 
as  the  Ko-mop-so,  flowing  as  a  full- watered,  green  stream  be- 
tween lofty  cliffs  of  much  caverned  limestone,  fantastically 
buttressed,  and  between  hills  which  throw  out  rocky  spurs, 
terminating  or  thinning  down  into  high  limestone  walls,  re- 
sembling those  of  ruinous  fortifications. 


324  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Again  losing  the  way  and  our  time,  a  struggle  over  a  rough 
pass  brought  us  in  view  of  the  Tai-dong,  with  the  character- 
istics of  its  mountain  course,  long  rapids  with  glints  of  foam 
and  rocks,  long  reaches  of  deep,  still,  slow-gliding  jagged 
translucent  green  water  broad  and  deep,  making  constant 
abrupt  turns,  and  by  its  volume  suggesting  great  powers  of 
destructiveness  when  it  is  liberated  from  its  mountain  barriers. 
In  about  a  fortnight  it  would  be  frozen  for  the  winter. 
Diamond-flashing  in  the  fine  breeze,  below  noble  cliffs  and 
cobalt  mountains,  across  which  cloud  shadows  were  sailing  in 
indigo,  under  a  vault  of  cloud-flecked  blue,  that  view  was  one 
of  those  dreams  of  beauty  which  become  a  possession  for  ever. 

From  that  pass  the  road,  if  it  can  be  called  such,  is  shut  in 
with  the  Tai-dong  for  30  //.  In  some  places  there  is  not  room 
even  for  the  narrowest  bridle  track,  and  the  ponies  scramble 
as  they  may  over  the  rough  boulders  which  margin  the  water, 
and  climb  the  worn,  steep,  and  rocky  steps,  often  as  high  as 
their  own  knees,  by  which  the  break-neck  track  is  taken  over 
the  rocky  spurs  which  descend  on  the  river.  It  is  one  of  the 
worst  pieces  of  road  I  ever  encountered,  and  it  was  not  won- 
derful that  we  did  not  meet  a  single  traveller,  and  that  there 
should  be  only  about  nine  a  year  !  We  made  by  our  utmost 
efforts  only  a  short  mile  an  hour,  and  it  took  us  five  hours  of 
this  severe  work  to  reach  the  wretched  hamlet  of  Huok  Kuri, 
a  few  hovels  dumped  down  among  heaps  of  stones  and  great 
boulders,  some  of  which  served  as  backs  for  the  huts.  Pov- 
erty-stricken, filthy,  squalid,  the  few  inhabitants  subsisted  en- 
tirely on  red  millet  !  Poor  Mr.  Yi,  who  had  had  a  wakeful 
night  owing  to  vermin,  said  woefully  as  he  dismounted  stiflly, 
**  Sleepy,  tired,  cold,  hungry," — and  there  was  nothing  to  eat, 
and  little  for  the  ponies  either,  which  may  have  been  the 
reason  that  they  got  up  a  desperate  fight,  of  which  they  bore 
the  traces  for  some  days. 

The  track  continued  shut  in  by  the  high  mountains  which 
line  the  Tai-dong  till  within  a  mile  of  Tok  Chhon,  forcing  the 


Northward  Ho!  325 

ponies  to  climb  worn  rock-ladders,  or  to  pick  a  perilous  way 
among  sharp-pointed  rocks.  I  had  not  thought  that  Korea 
could  produce  anything  so  emphatic  !  As  the  road  occasion- 
ally broke  up  in  face  of  some  apparently  impassable  spur,  we 
occasionally  got  into  impassable  places,  and  lost  time  so  badly 
that  we  were  benighted  when  little  more  than  halfway,  but  as 
there  were  no  inhabitants  we  pushed  on  as  a  matter  of  neces- 
sity. When  we  got  to  better  going  the  inapUy  inspired  by  the 
double  terror  of  robbers  and  wild  animals,  hurried  on  the 
ponies,  yelling  as  they  drove,  and  by  the  time  we  reached  the 
Tok  Chhon  ferry  a  young  moon  had  risen,  and  the  mountains 
in  shadow,  and  the  great  ferry-boat  full  of  horses,  men  in 
white,  and  bulls,  in  relief  against  the  silvered  water,  made  a 
beautiful  night  scene.  I  sent  on  the  ponies,  and  Im  to  pre- 
pare my  room,  fully  expecting  comfort,  as  at  Phyong-yang,  for 
though  I  could  never  find  anybody  who  had  been  at  Tok 
Chhon,  it  was  always  spoken  of  as  a  sort  of  metropolis. 

It  is  indeed  a  magistracy,  with  a  remarkably  ruinous  yamen 
and  a  market-place,  and  is  the  chief  town  of  a  very  large 
region.  It  is  entered  from  the  river  by  stepping-stones,  through 
abominable  slush,  by  a  long  narrow  street,  from  which  we  were 
directed  on  and  on  till  we  came  to  a  \^\At  place ,  where  the  inns 
of  the  town  are.  There  in  the  moonlight  a  great  masculine 
crowd  had  collected,  and  in  the  middle  of  it  were  our  juapUy 
with  the  loads  still  on  their  ponies,  raging  at  large,  and  Im 
rushing  hither  and  thither  like  a  madman.  For  they  had  been 
refused  accommodation,  and  every  door  had  been  barred 
against  them  on  the  ground  that  I  was  a  foreigner  !  They 
said,  truly  or  falsely,  that  no  foreigner  had  ever  profaned  Tok 
Chhon  by  his  presence,  that  they  lived  in  peace,  and  did  not 
want  to  be  "  implicated  with  a  foreigner  "  (all  foreigners  being 
Japanese).  It  is  most  disagreeable  to  force  oneself  in  even  the 
slightest  degree  on  any  one,  but  I  had  been  twelve  hours  in  the 
saddle,  it  was  8  p.  m.,  there  was  snow  on  the  ground,  and  it 
was  freezing  hard  !     The  yard  door  of  one  inn  was  opened  a 


326  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

chink  for  a  moment,  our  men  rushed  for  it,  but  it  was  at  once 
barred,  and  we  were  all  again  left  standing  in  the  street,  the 
centre  of  a  crowd  which  increased  every  moment. 

Our  men  eventually  forced  open  the  door  of  one  inn  and 
got  their  ponies  in.  Then  the  paper  was  torn  off  two  doors, 
and  Im  was  visible  against  the  light  from  within  tearing  about 
like  a  black  daemon.  We  had  then  stood  like  statues  for  two 
hours  with  our  feet  in  freezing  slush,  the  great  crowd  preserv- 
ing a  ring  round  us,  staring  stolidly,  but  not  showing  any  hos- 
tility. At  last  Im  appeared  at  an  open  door,  waving  my  chair, 
and  we  got  into  a  high,  dark  lumber-room;  but  the  crowd  was 
too  quick  for  us,  and  came  tumbling  in  behind  us  till  the  place 
was  full.  Then  the  landlord  closed  the  doors,  but  they  were 
smashed  in,  and  he  had  no  better  luck  when  he  weakly  be- 
sought the  people  to  look  at  him  and  not  at  the  stranger,  for 
his  entreaty  only  produced  an  ebullition  of  Korean  wit,  by  no 
means  complimentary.  An  official  from  the  yame?i  arrived 
and  inquired  if  I  had  any  complaint  to  make,  but  I  had  none, 
and  he  sat  down  and  took  a  prolonged  stare  on  his  own  ac- 
count, not  making  any  attempt  to  disperse  tlie  crowd. 

So  I  sat  facing  the  door,  Mr.  Yi  not  far  off  smoking  endless 
cigarettes,  while  Im  battled  for  a  room,  after  one  he  had  se- 
cured had  its  doors  broken  down  by  the  crowd.  I  sat  for  two 
hours  longer  in  that  cold,  ruinous,  miserable  place,  two  front 
and  three  back  doorways  filled  up  with  men,  the  whole  male 
population  of  Tok  Chhon,  and,  never  moved  a  muscle  or 
showed  any  sign  of  dissatisfaction  !  Some  sat  on  the  doorsill, 
little  men  were  on  the  shoulders  of  big  ones,  all,  inside  and 
outside,  clamoring  at  once. 

The  situation  might  have  been  serious  had  a  European  man 
been  with  me,  and  the  experiences  of  Mr.  Campbell  of  the 
Consular  Service,  at  Kapsan  might  have  been  repeated.  No 
Englishman  could  have  kept  his  temper  in  such  circumstances 
from  8  p.  M.  till  midnight.  He  would  certainly  have  knocked 
somebody  down,  and  then  there  would  have  been  a  fight.     The 


Northward  Ho!  327 

ill-bred  curiosity  tires  but  does  not  annoy  me,  though  it  ex- 
ceeded all  bounds  that  night.  Fortunately  for  me,  a  Korean 
gentleman  is  taught  from  his  earliest  boyhood  that  he  must 
never  lose  his  temper,  and  that  it  is  a  degradation  to  him  to 
touch  an  inferior,  therefore  he  must  never  strike  a  servant  or 
one  of  the  lower  orders. 

At  midnight,  probably  weary  of  our  passivity,  and  anxious 
for  sleep,  the  inn  people  consented  to  give  me  a  room  in  the 
back-yard  if  I  did  not  object  to  one  "prepared  for  sacrifice," 
and  containing  the  ancestral  tablets.  The  crowd  then  filled 
the  back-yard,  and  attempted  to  pour  into  my  room,  when 
Im's  sorely-tried  patience  gave  way  for  only  the  second  time, 
and  he  knocked  people  down  right  and  left.  This,  and  the 
contents  of  a  fire-bowl  which  was  upset  in  the  scrimmage, 
helped  to  scatter  the  crowd,  but  it  was  there  again  at  daylight, 
attempting  to  enter  every  time  Im  opened  the  door ! 

The  ''room  prepared  for  sacrifice"  in  aspect  was  a  small 
barn,  fearfully  dirty  and  littered  with  rubbish,  and  bundles  of 
rags,  rope,  and  old  shoes  were  tucked  away  among  the  beams 
and  rafters.  My  camp-bed  cut  it  exactly  in  half.  In  the  in- 
ner half  there  was  a  dusty  table,  and  behind  it  on  a  black 
stand  a  dusty  black  shrine,  at  the  back  of  which  was  a  four- 
leaved  screen  covered  with  long  strips  of  paper,  on  which  were 
poems  in  praise  of  the  deceased.  In  front,  dividing  the  room, 
and  falling  from  the  roof  to  the  floor,  was  a  curtain  made  of 
two  widths  of  very  dirty  foreign  calico.  Among  the  poor,  in- 
stead of  setting  food  before  the  ancestral  shrine  twice  or  thrice 
daily  during  the  three  years  of  mourning  for  a  parent,  it  is 
only  placed  there  twice  a  month.  In  a  small  white  wooden 
tablet  within  the  shrine  popular  belief  places  the  residence  of 
the  third  soul  of  the  deceased,  as  I  have  mentioned  before. 

I  spent  two  days  at  Tok  Chhon.  Properly  speaking,  the 
Tai-dong  is  never  navigable  to  that  point,  owing  to  many  and 
dangerous  rapids,  and  any  idea  of  the  possibility  of  this  highly 
picturesqe  stream  becoming  "a  great  commercial  highway " 


328  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

may  be  utterly  dismissed.  Small  boats  can  ascend  it  at  all 
seasons  to  Mou-chin  Tai,  about  140  //  lower  down,  and  during 
two  summer  months,  when  the  water  is  high,  a  few  with  much 
difficulty  get  up  to  Tok  Chhon,  and  even  a  few  //  farther,  and 
at  the  same  season  rafts  descend  from  the  forests  of  the  Yung- 
won  district,  from  30  to  40  //  higher;  but  owing  to  severe 
rapids,  shallows,  and  sandbanks  which  shift  continually,  the 
river  is  not  really  navigable  higher  than  Phyong-yang,  and 
all  commercial  theories  built  upon  it  are  totally  chimerical. 
For  30  //  above  Tok  Chhon  the  river  scenery  is  far  grander 
than  below,  the  perpendicular  walls  of  limestone  rock  rising 
from  800  to  1,000  feet,  with  lofty  mountains  above  them,  the 
peaks  of  which,  even  so  early  as  the  end  of  November,  were 
crested  with  new-fallen  snow.  I  had  been  assured  in  Phyong- 
yang  that  boats  could  be  hired  at  Tok  Chhon,  and  I  had 
planned  to  descend  the  river ;  but  there  are  no  boats,  except 
a  few  ferry  scows,  higher  than  Mou-chin  Tai. 

Tok  Chhon  and  its  district  are  lamentably  poor.  The 
people  said  that  the  war  had  made  the  necessaries  of  life 
dearer,  and  that  they  had  only  the  same  produce  to  barter  or 
buy  with.  The  reforms  which  were  being  carried  out  farther 
south  had  not  reached  that  region,  and  *' squeezing"  was  still 
carried  on  by  the  officials.  Rice,  the  ordinary  staff  of  Korean 
life,  is  brought  from  An  Ju,  but  is  used  only  by  the  rich,  i.e. 
the  officials.  The  poor  live  on  large  and  small  millet.  Po- 
tatoes and  wheat  are  grown,  but  the  soil  is  poor  and  stony.  A 
little  trade,  chiefly  in  dried  fish  and  seaweed,  is  done  with 
Won-san.  A  few  silk  lenos  and  gauzes  of  very  poor  quality 
are  made,  the  industry  having  been  introduced  by  the  Chinese. 
Piece  goods  are  only  a  few  cash  dearer  than  at  Phyong-yang. 
Those  displayed  on  the  market-day  were  nearly  all  Japanese. 
It  was  the  dullest  market  I  have  seen.  The  pedlars  carried 
away  nearly  as  much  as  they  brought.  The  country  is  abso- 
lutely denuded  of  wood.  There  are  no  deciduous  trees,  and 
the  region  owes  its  few  groves  of  dwarfed  and  distorted  pines 


Northward  Ho!  329 

to  the  horseshoe  graves  on  the  hillsides.  A  yaf?ien  which 
only  hangs  together  from  force  of  habit,  a  Confucian  temple, 
and  a  Buddhist  temple  on  a  height  are  the  only  noteworthy 
buildings. 

The  district  magistrate  returned  while  I  was  in  Tok  Chhon, 
and  the  people  showed  a  degree  of  interest  in  the  event.  Run- 
ners lined  the  river-bank  by  the  ferry,  blowing  horns,  forty 
men  in  black  gauze  coats  over  their  white  ones,  and  a  few 
singing  girls  met  his  chair  and  ran  with  it  to  X\\q  ya?fien,  and  a 
few  men  looked  on  apathetically.  A  more  squalid  retinue 
could  not  be  imagined. 

Some  magistrates  had  a  thousand  of  such  retainers  paid  by 
this  impoverished  country.  In  a  single  province,  there  were 
at  that  time  44  district  mandarins,  with  an  average  staff  of 
400  men  each,  whose  sole  duties  were  those  of  police  and  tax- 
collecting,  their  food  alone,  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  per 
month,  costing  ^392,400  a  year.^  This  army  of  17,600  men, 
not  receiving  a  ''living  wage,"  ''squeezed"  on  its  own  ac- 
count the  peasant,  who  in  Korea  has  neither  rights  nor  privi- 
leges, except  that  of  being  the  ultimate  sponge.  As  an  illus- 
tration of  the  methods  of  proceeding  I  give  the  case  of  a 
village  in  a  southern  province.  Telegraph  poles  were  required, 
and  the  Provincial  Governor  made  a  requisition  of  100  cash 
on  every  house.  The  local  magistrate  increased  it  to  200,  and 
his  runners  to  250,  which  was  actually  paid  by  the  people,  the 
runners  getting  50  cash,  the  magistrate  100,  and  the  Governor 
100,  a  portion  of  which  sum  was  expended  on  the  object  for 
which  it  was  levied.  An  edict  abolishing  this  attendance,  and 
reducing  the  salaries  of  magistrates,  had  recently  been  pro- 
mulgated. At  Tok  Chhon,  the  ruin  and  decay  of  official 
buildings,  and  the  filth  and  squalor  of  the  private  dwellings, 
could  go  no  farther. 

'  My  authority  for  this  statement  is  Mr.  W.  K.  Carles,  formerly  H.B. 
M.'s  Vice-Consul  in  Korea. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

OVER   THE   AN-KIL   YUNG   PASS 

FINDING  the  Tai-dong  totally  impracticable,  and  being 
limited  as  to  time  by  the  approach  of  the  closing  of  the 
river  below  Phyong-yang  by  ice,  I  regretfully  turned  south- 
wards, and  journeyed  Seoul-wards  by  another  route,  of  much 
interest,  which  touches  here  and  there  the  right  bank  of  the 
Tai-dong. 

As  I  sat  amidst  the  dirt,  squalor,  rubbish,  and  odd  and  end- 
isra  of  the  inn  yard  before  starting,  surrounded  by  an 
apathetic,  dirty,  vacant-looking,  open-mouthed  crowd  steeped 
in  poverty,  I  felt  Korea  to  be  hopeless,  helpless,  pitiable, 
piteous,  a  mere  shuttlecock  of  certain  great  powers,  and  that 
there  is  no  hope  for  her  population  of  twelve  or  fourteen  mil- 
lions, unless  it  is  taken  in  hand  by  Russia,  under  whose  rule, 
giving  security  for  the  gains  of  industry  as  well  as  light  taxa- 
tion, I  had  seen  Koreans  in  hundreds  transformed  into  ener- 
getic, thriving,  peasant  farmers  in  Eastern  Siberia. 

The  road,  which  was  said,  and  truly,  to  be  a  very  bad  one, 
crosses  a  small  plain,  and  passing  under  a  roofed  gateway  be- 
tween two  hills  which  are  scarred  by  remains  of  fortifications 
running  east  and  west,  enters  upon  really  fine  scenery,  which 
becomes  magnificent  in  about  30  //,  at  first  a  fertile  mountain- 
girdled  basin,  whose  rim  is  spotted  with  large  villages,  and 
then  a  narrowing  valley  with  stony  soil,  and  a  sparse  popula- 
tion, walled  in  by  savage  mountains  of  emphatic  forms,  swing- 
ing apart  at  times,  and  revealing  loftier  peaks  and  ranges  then 
glittering  with  new-fallen  snow. 

In  crossing  the  plain  at  a  point  where  the  road  was  good,  I 

330 


Over  the  An-kil  Yung  Pass  331 

was   remarking   to   Mr.    Yi   what   a  pleasant  and  prosperous 
journey  we  had  had,  and  hoping  our  good  fortune  might  con- 
tinue, when  there  was  a  sudden  clash  and  flurry,  I  was  nearly 
kicked  off  my  pony,  and  in  a  moment  we  were  in  the  midst  of 
disaster.     One  baggage  pony  was  on  his  back  on  his  load, 
pawing  the  air  in  the  middle  of  a  ploughed  field,  his  mapu 
helpless  for  the  time,  lamed  by  a  kick  above  the  knee,  sobbing, 
blood  and  tears  running  down  his  face ;    the  other  baggage 
animal,   having  divested  himself  of  Im,  was  kicking  off  the 
rest  of  his  load ;  and  Im,  who  had  been  thrown  from  the  top 
of  the  pack,  was  sitting  on  the  roadside,  evidently  in  intense 
pain— all  the  work  of  a  moment.     Mr.  Yi  called  to  me  that 
the  soldier  had  broken  his  ankle,  and  it  was  a  great  relief 
when  he  rose  and  walked  towards  me.     Everything  breakable 
was  broken  except  my  photographic  camera,  which  I  did  not 
look  at  for  two  days  for  fear  of  what  I  might  find  ! 

Leaving  the  men  to  get  the  loads  and  ponies  together,  we 
walked  on  to  a  hamlet  so  destitute  as  not  to  be  able  to  provide 
either  wood  or  wadding  for  a  splint  !  I  picked  up  a  thick 
faggot,  however,  which  had  been  dropped  from  a  load,  and  it 
was  thinned  into  being  usable  with  a  hatchet,  the  only  tool 
the  village  possessed,  and  after  padding  it  with  a  pair  of  stock- 
ings and  making  a  six-yard  bandage  out  of  a  cotton  garment, 
I  put  up  Im's  right  arm,  which  was  broken  just  above  the 
wrist,  in  splints,  and  made  a  sling  out  of  one  of  the  two  towels 
which  the  rats  had  left  to  me.  I  should  have  been  glad  to 
know  Korean  enough  to  rate  the  gossiping  mapii-,  three  men  to 
two  horses,  who  allowed  the  accident  to  happen. 

The  animals  always  fight  if  they  are  left  to  themselves,  and 
loads  and  riders  are  nowhere.  One  day  Mr.  Yi  had  a  bit  of  a 
finger  taken  off  in  a  fight,  and  if  a  strange  brute  had  not 
kicked  my  stirrup  iron  (which  was  bent  by  the  blow)  instead 
of  myself,  I  should  have  had  a  broken  ankle.  When  we  halted 
at  midday  the  villagers  tried  hard  to  induce  Im  to  have  his 
arm  *' needled"  to  'Met  out  the  bad  blood,"  a  most  risky 


332  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

surgical  proceeding,  which  often  destroys  the  usefuhiess  of  a 
limb  for  life,  and  he  was  anxious  for  it,  but  yielded  to  persua- 
sion. 

Being  delayed  by  tliis  accident,  it  was  late  when  we  started 
to  cross  the  pass  of  An-kil  Yung,  regarded  as  "  the  most  dan- 
gerous in  Korea,"  owing  to  its  liability  to  sudden  fogs  and 
violent  storms,  3,346  feet  in  altitude,  and  said  to  be  30  // 
long. 

The  infamous  path  traverses  a  wild  rocky  glen  with  an 
impetuous  torrent  at  its  bottom,  and  only  a  few  wretched 
hamlets,  in  which  the  hovels  are  indistinguishable  from  the 
millet  and  brushwood  stacks,  along  its  length  of  several  miles. 
Poverty,  limiting  the  people  to  the  barest  necessaries  of  life, 
is  the  lot  of  the  peasant  in  that  region,  but  I  believe  that  his 
dirty  and  squalid  habits  give  an  impression  of  want  which  does 
not  actually  exist.  I  doubt  much  whether  any  Koreans  are  un- 
able to  provide  themselves  with  two  daily  meals  of  millet,  with 
clothes  sufficient  for  decency  in  summer  and  for  warmth  in 
winter,  and  with  fuel  (grass,  leaves,  twigs,  and  weeds)  enough 
to  keep  their  miserable  rooms  at  a  temperature  of  70°  and 
more  by  means  of  the  hot  floor. 

To  the  west  the  valley  is  absolutely  closed  in  by  a  wall  of 
peaks.  The  bridle-path,  a  well-engineered  road,  when  it 
ascends  the  very  steep  ridge  of  the  watershed  in  many  zigzags, 
rests  for  100  feet,  and  descends  the  western  side  by  seventy- 
five  turns.  Except  in  Tibet,  I  never  saw  so  apparently  insur- 
mountable an  obstacle,  but  it  does  not  present  any  real  diffi- 
culty. Tlie  ascent  took  seventy  minutes.  Rain  fell  very 
heavily,  but  the  superb  view  to  the  northeast  was  scarcely  ob- 
scured. At  the  top,  which  is  only  100  feet  wide,  there  is  a 
celebrated  shrine  to  the  daemon  of  the  past.  To  him  all 
travellers  put  up  petitions  for  deliverance  from  the  many 
malignant  spirits  who  are  waiting  to  injure  them,  and  for  a 
safe  descent.  The  shrine  contains  many  strips  of  paper  in- 
scribed with  the  names  of  those  who  have  made  special  pay- 


Over  the  An-kil  Yung  Pass  333 

ments  for  special  prayers,  and  a  few  wreaths  and  posies  of 
faded  paper  flowers.  The  woman  who  lives  in  the  one  hovel 
on  the  pass  nciakes  a  good  living  by  receiving  money  from 
travellers,  who  offer  rice  cakes  and  desire  prayers.  The 
worship  is  nearly  all  done  by  proxy,  and  the  rice  cakes  do 
duty  any  number  of  times. 

Besides  the  shrine  and  a  one-rooomed  hovel,  there  are  some 
open  sheds  made  of  millet  stalks  to  give  shelter  during  storms. 
The  An-kil  Yung  pass  is  blocked  by  snow  for  three  months  of 
the  year,  but  at  other  times  is  much  used  in  spite  of  its  great 
height.  Excellent  potatoes  are  grown  on  the  mountain  slopes 
at  an  altitude  exceeding  3,000  feet,  and  round  Tok  Chhon 
they  are  largely  cultivated  and  enter  into  the  diet  of  the  peo- 
ple, never  having  had  the  disease. 

Darkness  came  on  prematurely  with  the  heavy  rain,  and  we 
asked  the  shrine-keeper  to  give  us  shelter  for  the  night,  but  she 
said  that  to  take  in  six  men  and  a  foreign  woman  was  impos- 
sible, as  she  had  only  one  room.  But  it  was  equally  impos- 
sible for  us  to  descend  the  pass  in  the  darkness  with  tired 
ponies,  and  after  half  an  hour's  altercation  the  matter  was  ar- 
ranged, Im,  who  retained  his  wits,  securing  for  me  a  degree 
of  privacy  by  hanging  some  heavy  mats  from  a  beam,  giving 
me,  I  am  sure,  the  lion's  share  of  the  apartment.  Really  the 
accommodation  was  not  much  worse  than  usual,  but  though 
the  mercury  fell  to  the  freezing  point,  the  hot  floor  kept  the 
inside  temperature  up  to  83°,  and  the  dread  of  tigers  on  the 
part  of  my  hostess  forbade  my  having  even  a  chink  of  the  door 
open  ! 

The  rain  cleared  off  in  time  for  the  last  sunset  gleam  on  the 
distant  mountains,  which,  when  darkness  fell  on  the  pass, 
burned  fiery  red  against  a  strip  of  pale  green  sky,  taking  on 
afterwards  one  by  one  the  ashy  look  of  death  as  the  light  died 
off  from  their  snows.  All  about  An-kil  Yung  the  mountains 
are  wooded  to  their  summits  with  deciduous  trees,  the  ubiqui- 
tous Pimis  sinensis  being  rare ;  but  to  the  northward  in  the 


334  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

direction  of  Paik-tu  San  the  character  of  the  scenery  changes, 
and  peaks  and  precipices  of  naked  rock,  and  lofty  mountain 
monoliths,  with  snow-crowned  ranges  beyond,  form  by  far  the 
grandest  view  that  I  saw  in  this  land  of  hill  and  valley. 

Then  Im  had  to  be  attended  to,  and  though  I  was  very 
anxious  about  him,  I  could  not  be  blind  to  the  picturesqueness 
of  the  scene  in  the  hovel,  Mr.  Yi  sitting  in  my  chair  holding 
the  candle,  the  soldier,  with  his  face  puckered  with  pain, 
squatting  on  the  floor  with  his  swollen  arm  lying  on  a  writing 
board  on  my  lap,  and  no  room  to  move.  I  failed  there  as 
elsewhere  to  get  a  better  piece  of  wood  for  the  splint,  which 
was  too  short,  and  I  could  only  get  wadding  for  padding  it  by 
taking  some  out  of  Im's  sleeve,  and  all  the  time  and  after- 
wards I  was  very  anxious  for  fear  that  I  had  put  the  bandage 
on  too  tightly  or  too  loosely,  and  that  my  want  of  experience 
would  give  the  poor  fellow  a  useless  right  arm.  He  was  in 
severe  pain  all  that  night,  but  he  was  very  plucky  about  it, 
made  no  fuss,  and  never  allowed  me  to  suffer  in  the  slightest 
degree  from  his  accident.  Indeed,  he  was  even  more  attentive 
than  before.  He  said  to  Mr.  Yi,  *'  The  foreign  woman  looked 
so  sorry,  and  touched  my  arm  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  her  own 
people,  I  shall  do  my  best  " — and  so  he  did.  I  had  indulged 
in  a  long  perspective  of  pheasant  curries,  and  I  must  confess 
that  when  the  prospect  faded  I  felt  a  little  dismal.  To  a 
traveller  who  carries  no  "  foreign  food,"  it  makes  a  great  dif- 
ference to  get  a  nice,  hot,  stimulating  dish  (even  though  it  is 
served  in  the  pot  it  is  cooked  in)  after  a  ten  hours'  cold  ride. 
To  my  surprise,  I  was  never  without  curry  for  dinner,  and 
though  before  the  accident  I  had  only  cold  rice  for  tiffin,  after 
it  I  was  never  without  something  hot. 

The  descent  of  An-kil  Yung  is  very  grand.  The  road  leads 
into  a  wide  valley  with  a  fine  stream,  one  side  of  which  looks 
as  if  the  mountains  had  dumped  down  all  their  available 
stones  upon  it,  while  the  other  is  rich  alluvial  soil.  Gold 
washing  is  carried   on  to  a  great  extent  along   this  stream, 


Over  the  An-kil  Yung  Pass  335 

which  is  a  tributary  of  the  Tai-dong,  and  some  of  the  work- 
ings show  more  care  and  method  than  usual,  being  pits  neatly 
lined  with  stone  in  their  upper  parts.  Eighty  cents  per  day  is 
the  average  earning  of  a  gold-seeker  there.  This  valley  ter- 
minates in  pretty,  broken  country,  with  fine  mountain  views, 
and  picturesque  cliffs  along  the  river,  on  which  the  dark  blue 
gloom  of  pines  was  lighted  by  the  fading  scarlet  of  the  maple, 
and  crimson  streaks  of  the  Ampelopsis  Veitchii  brightened 
the  russet  into  which  the  countless  trailers  which  draped  the 
rocks  had  passed.  The  increased  fertility  of  the  soil  was  de- 
noted by  the  number  of  villages  and  hamlets  on  the  road,  and 
foot  passengers  in  twos  and  threes  gave  something  of  life  and 
movement.  But  it  was  remarkable  that  so  soon  after  the  har- 
vest, and  when  the  roads  were  in  their  best  condition,  there 
were  no  goods  in  transit  except  such  local  productions  as  paper 
and  tobacco — no  strings  of  porters  or  ponies  carrying  goods 
into  the  interior  from  Phyong-yang,  no  evidence  of  trade  but 
that  given  by  the  pedlars  going  the  round  of  the  market-places. 
Along  that  road  and  elsewhere  near  the  villages  there  are 
tall  poles  branching  at  the  top  into  a  V,  which  are  erected  in 
the  belief  that  they  will  guard  the  inhabitants  from  cholera 
and  other  pestilences.  On  that  day's  journey,  at  a  crossroad, 
a  small  log  with  several  holes  like  those  of  a  mouse-trap,  one 
of  them  plugged  doubly  with  bungs  of  wood,  was  lying  on  the 
path,  and  the  mapu  were  careful  to  step  over  it  and  lead  their 
ponies  over  it,  though  it  might  easily  have  been  avoided.  Into 
the  bunged  hole  the  mii-tang  or  sorceress  by  her  arts  had  in- 
veigled a  daemon  which  was  causing  sickness  in  a  family,  and 
had  corked  him  up  !  It  is  proper  for  passers-by  to  step  over 
the  log.  At  nightfall  it  is  buried.  That  afternoon's  ride  was 
through  extremely  attractive  country — small  valley  basins  of 
rich  stoneless  soil,  with  brown  hamlets  nestling  round  them  in 
calm,  pine-sheltered  folds  of  hills,  which  though  not  high  are 
shapely,  and  were  etherealized  into  purple  beauty  by  the  sink- 
ing sun,  which  turned  the  lake-like  expanse  of  the  Tai-dong  at 


33^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Mou-chin  Tai,  the  beautifully  situated  halting-place  for  the 
night,  into  a  sheet  of  gold. 

With  a  splendid  climate,  an  abundant,  but  not  superabun- 
dant, rainfall,  a  fertile  soil,  a  measure  of  freedom  from  civil 
war  and  robber  bands,  the  Koreans  ought  to  be  a  happy  and 
fairly  prosperous  people.  If  ''  squeezing,"  j^a»;^;^  runners  and 
their  exactions,  and  certain  malign  practices  of  officials  can  be 
put  down  with  a  strong  hand,  and  the  land  tax  is  fairly  levied 
and  collected,  and  law  becomes  an  agent  for  protection  rather 
than  an  instrument  of  injustice,  I  see  no  reason  why  the 
Korean  peasant  should  not  be  as  happy  and  industrious  as  the 
Japanese  peasant.  But  these  are  great  "  ifs  "  !  Security  for 
the  gains  of  industry,  from  whatever  quarter  it  comes,  will,  I 
believe,  transform  the  limp,  apathetic  native.  Such  ameliora- 
tions as  have  been  made  are  owed  to  Japan,  but  she  had  not  a 
free  hand,  and  she  was  too  inexperienced  in  the  role  which 
she  undertook  (and  I  believe  honestly)  to  play,  to  produce  a 
harmonious  working  scheme  of  reform.  Besides,  the  men 
through  whom  any  such  scheme  must  be  carried  out  are  nearly 
universally  corrupt  both  by  tradition  and  habit.  Reform  was 
jerky  and  piecemeal,  and  Japan  irritated  the  people  by  med- 
dlesomeness in  small  matters  and  suggested  interferences  with 
national  habits,  giving  the  impression,  which  I  found  prevail- 
ing everywhere,  that  her  object  is  to  denationalize  the  Koreans 
for  purposes  of  her  own. 

Travellers  are  much  impressed  with  the  laziness  of  the  Ko- 
reans, but  after  seeing  their  energy  and  industry  in  Russian 
Manchuria,  their  thrift,  and  the  abundant  and  comfortable 
furnishings  of  their  houses,  I  greatly  doubt  whether  it  is  to  be 
regarded  as  a  matter  of  temperament.  Every  man  in  Korea 
knows  that  poverty  is  his  best  security,  and  that  anything  he 
possesses  beyond  that  which  provides  himself  and  his  family 
with  food  and  clothing  is  certain  to  be  taken  from  him  by  vo- 
racious and  corrupt  officials.  It  is  only  when  the  exactions  of 
officials  become  absolutely  intolerable  and  encroach  upon  his 


Over  the  An-kil  Yung  Pass  337 

means  of  providing  the  necessaries  of  life  that  he  resorts  to 
the  only  method  of  redress  in  his  power,  which  has  a  sort  of 
counterpart  in  China.  This  consists  in  driving  out,  and  occa- 
sionally in  killing,  the  obnoxious  and  intolerable  magistrate, 
or,  as  in  a  case  Vv^hich  lately  gained  much  notoriety,  roasting 
his  favorite  secretary  on  a  wood  pile.  The  popular  outburst, 
though  under  unusual  provocation  it  may  culminate  in  deeds 
of  regrettable  violence,  is  usually  founded  on  right,  and  is  an 
effective  protest. 

Among  the  modes  of  squeezing  are  forced  labor,  doubling 
or  trebling  the  amount  of  a  legitimate  tax,  exacting  bribes  in 
cases  of  litigation,  forced  loans,  etc.  If  a  man  is  reported  to 
have  saved  a  little  money,  an  official  asks  for  the  loan  of  it. 
If  it  is  granted,  the  lender  frequently  never  sees  principal  or 
interest ;  if  it  is  refused,  he  is  arrested,  thrown  into  prison  on 
some  charge  invented  for  his  destruction,  and  beaten  until 
either  he  or  his  relations  for  him  produce  the  sum  demanded. 
To  such  an  extent  are  these  demands  carried,  that  in  Northern 
Korea,  where  the  winters  are  fairly  severe,  the  peasants,  when 
the  harvest  has  left  them  with  a  few  thousand  cash^  put  them 
in  a  hole  in  the  ground,  and  pour  water  into  it,  the  frozen 
mass  which  results  then  being  earthed  over,  when  it  is  fairly 
safe  both  from  officials  and  thieves. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

SOCIAL   POSITION   OF   WOMEN 

MOU-CHIN  TAI  is  a  beautifully  situated  village,  and  has 
something  of  a  look  of  comfort.  Up  to  that  point 
small  boats  can  come  up  at  all  seasons,  but  there  is  almost  no 
trade.  The  Tai-dong  expands  into  a  broad  sheet  of  water,  on 
which  the  hills  descend  abruptly.  There  is  a  ferry,  and  we 
drove  our  ponies  into  the  ferryboat  and  yelled  for  the  ferry- 
man. After  a  time  he  appeared  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  but 
absolutely  declined  to  take  us  over  ''for  any  money."  He 
would  have  "nothing  so  do  with  a  foreigner,"  he  said,  and 
he  would  not  be  "  implicated  with  a  Japanese  "  !  So  we  put 
ourselves  across,  and  the  mapii  were  so  angry  that  they  threw 
his  poles  into  the  river. 

Passing  through  very  pretty  country,  and  twice  crossing  the 
Tai-dong,  we  halted  at  the  town  of  Sun-chhon,  a  magistracy 
with  a  deplorably  ruinous  j^;;z<f/z.  All  these  official  buildings 
have  seen  better  days.  Their  courts  are  spacious,  and  the 
double-roofed  gateways,  with  their  drum  towers,  as  well  as  the 
central  hall  of  the  yamen,  still  retain  a  certain  look  of  stateli- 
ness,  though  paint,  lacquer,  and  gilding  have  long  ago  disap- 
peared from  the  elaborately  arranged  beams  and  carved  wood 
of  the  roofs,  and  the  fretwork  screening  the  interiors  is  always 
shabby  and  broken. 

About  the  Sun-chhon  yameUy  and  all  others,  there  are  crowds 
of  *'  runners,"  writers,  soldiers  in  coarse  ragged  uniforms,  young 
men  of  \\\t  yang-ban  class  in  spotless  white  garments,  lounging, 
or  walking  with  the  swinging  gait  befitting  their  position,  while 
the  decayed  and  forlorn  rooms  in  the  courtyard  are  filled  with 

338 


Social  Position  of  Women  339 

petty  officials,  smoking  long  pipes  and  playing  cards.  To  judge 
from  the  crowds  of  attendants,  the  walking  hither  and  thither, 
the  hurrying  in  various  directions  with  manuscripts,  and  the 
din  of  drums  and  fifes  when  the  great  gate  is  opened  and  closed, 
one  would  think  that  nothing  less  than  the  business  of  an  em- 
pire was  transacted  within  the  ruinous  portals. 

Soldiers,  writers,  yamen  runners,  and  men  of  the  yang-ban 
and  literary  classes  combined  with  the  loafers  of  the  town  to 
compose  a  crowd  which  by  its  buzzing  and  shouting,  and  tear- 
ing off  the  paper  from  my  latticed  door,  gave  me  a  fatiguing 
and  hideous  two  hours,  a  Korean  crowd  being  only  ?/;zbearable 
when  it  is  led  by  men  of  the  literary  class,  who,  as  in  China, 
indulge  in  every  sort  of  vulgar  impertinence.  Eventually  I 
was  smuggled  into  the  women's  apartments,  where  I  was  vic- 
timized in  other  ways  by  insatiable  curiosity. 

The  women  of  the  lower  classes  in  Korea  are  ill-bred  and 
unmannerly,  far  removed  from  the  gracefulness  of  the  same 
class  in  Japan  or  the  reticence  and  kindliness  of  the  Chinese 
peasant  women.  Their  clothing  is  extremely  dirty,  as  if  the 
men  had  a  monopoly  of  their  ceaseless  laundry  work,  which 
everywhere  goes  on  far  into  the  night.  Every  brookside  has 
its  laundresses  squatting  on  flat  stones,  dipping  the  soiled  clothes 
in  the  water,  laying  them  on  flat  stones  in  tightly  rolled  bundles 
and  beating  them  with  flat  paddles,  a  previous  process  consist- 
ing of  steeping  them  in  a  ley  made  of  wood  ashes.  Bleached 
under  the  brilliant  sun  and  very  slightly  glazed  with  rice  starch, 
after  being  beaten  for  a  length  of  time  with  short  quick  taps  on 
a  wooden  roller  with  club-shaped  ''laundry  sticks,"  common 
white  cotton  looks  like  dull  white  satin,  and  has  a  dazzling 
whiteness  which  always  reminds  me  of  St.  Mark's  words  con- 
cerning the  raiment  at  the  Transfiguration,  "so  as  no  fuller  on 
earth  can  white  them."  This  wearing  of  white  clothes,  and 
especially  of  white  wadded  clothes  in  winter,  entails  very  severe 
and  incessant  labor  on  the  women.  The  coats  have  to  be  un- 
picked and  put  together  again  each  time  that  they  are  washed. 


340  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

and  though  some  of  the  long  seams  are  often  joined  with  paste, 
there  is  till  much  sewing  to  be  done. 

Besides  this  the  Korean  peasant  woman  makes  all  the  cloth- 
ing of  the  household,  does  all  the  cooking,  husks  and  cleans 
rice  with  a  heavy  pestle  and  mortar,  carries  heavy  loads  to 
market  on  her  head,  draws  water,  in  remote  districts  works  in 
the  fields,  rises  early  and  takes  rest  late,  spins  and  weaves,  and 
as  a  rule  has  many  children,  who  are  not  weaned  till  the  age 
of  three. 

The  peasant  woman  may  be  said  to  have  no  pleasures.  She 
is  nothing  but  a  drudge,  till  she  can  transfer  some  of  the 
drudgery  to  her  daughter-in-law.  At  thirty  she  looks  fifty, 
and  at  forty  is  frequently  toothless.  Even  the  love  of  personal 
adornment  fades  out  of  her  life  at  a  very  early  age.  Beyond 
the  daily  routine  of  life  it  is  probable  that  her  thoughts  never 
stray  except  to  the  daemons,  who  are  supposed  to  people  earth 
and  air,  and  whom  it  is  her  special  duty  to  propitiate. 

It  is  really  difficult  to  form  a  general  estimate  of  the  position 
of  women  in  Korea.  Absolute  seclusion  is  the  inflexible  rule 
among  the  upper  classes.  The  ladies  have  their  own  court- 
yards and  apartments,  towards  which  no  windows  from  the 
men's  apartments  must  look.  No  allusion  must  be  made  by  a 
visitor  to  the  females  of  the  household.  Inquiries  after  their 
health  would  be  a  gross  breach  of  etiquette,  and  politeness  re- 
quires that  they  should  not  be  supposed  to  exist.  Women  do 
not  receive  any  intellectual  training,  and  in  every  class  are  re- 
garded as  beings  of  a  very  inferior  order.  Nature  having  in 
the  estimation  of  the  Korean  man,  who  holds  a  sort  of  dual 
philosophy,  marked  woman  as  his  inferior,  the  Youth's 
Primer^  Historical  Sinnmaries,  and  the  Little  Learning  im- 
press this  view  upon  him  in  the  schools,  and  as  he  begins  to 
mix  with  men  this  estimate  of  women  receives  daily  corrobora- 
tion. 

The  seclusion  of  women  was  introduced  five  centuries  ago 
by  the  present  dynasty,  in  a  time  of  great  social  corruption, 


Social  Position  of  Women  341 

for  the  protection  of  the  family,  and  has  probably  been  con- 
tinued, not,  as  a  Korean  frankly  told  Mr.  Heber  Jones,  be- 
cause men  distrust  their  wives,  but  because  they  distrust  each 
other,  and  with  good  reason,  for  the  immorality  of  the  cities 
and  of  the  upper  classes  almost  exceeds  belief.  Thus  all  young 
women,  and  all  older  women  except  those  of  the  lowest  class, 
are  secluded  within  the  inner  courts  of  the  houses  by  a  custom 
which  has  more  than  the  force  of  law.  To  go  out  suitably 
concealed  at  night,  or  on  occasions  when  it  is  necessary  to 
travel  or  to  make  a  visit,  in  a  rigidly  closed  chair,  are  the  only 
"outings"  of  a  Korean  woman  of  the  middle  and  upper 
classes,  and  the  low-class  woman  only  goes  out  for  purposes  of 
work. 

The  murdered  Queen  told  me,  in  allusion  to  my  own  Korean 
journeys,  that  she  knew  nothing  of  Korea,  or  even  of  the  cap- 
ital, except  on  the  route  of  the  Kiir-dong. 

Daughters  have  been  put  to  death  by  their  fathers,  wives  by 
their  husbands,  and  women  have  even  committed  suicide,  ac- 
cording to  Dallet,  when  strange  men,  whether  by  accident  or  de- 
sign, have  even  touched  their  hands,  and  quite  lately  a  serving- 
woman  gave  as  her  reason  for  remissness  in  attempting  to  save 
her  mistress,  who  perished  in  a  fire,  that  in  the  confusion  a 
man  had  touched  the  lady,  making  her  not  worth  saving  ! 

The  law  may  not  enter  the  women's  apartments.  A  noble 
hiding  himself  in  his  wife's  rooms  cannot  be  seized  for  any 
crime  except  that  of  rebellion.  A  man  wishing  to  repair  his 
roof  must  notify  his  neighbors,  lest  by  any  chance  he  should 
see  any  of  their  women.  After  the  age  of  seven,  boys  and 
girls  part  company,  and  the  girls  are  rigidly  secluded,  seeing 
none  of  the  male  sex  except  their  fathers  and  brothers  until 
the  date  of  marriage,  after  which  they  can  only  see  their  own 
and  their  husband's  near  male  relations.  Girl  children,  even 
among  the  very  poor,  are  so  successfully  hidden  away,  that  in 
somewhat  extensive  Korean  journeys  I  never  saw  one  girl  who 
looked  above  the  age  of  six,  except  hanging  listlessly  about  in 


34^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  women's  rooms,  and  the  brightness  which  girl  life  contrib- 
utes to  social  existence  is  unknown  in  the  country. 

But  I  am  far  from  saying  that  the  women  fret  and  groan 
under  this  system,  or  crave  for  the  freedom  which  European 
women  enjoy.  Seclusion  is  the  custom  of  centuries.  Their 
idea  of  liberty  is  peril,  and  I  quite  believe  that  they  think  that 
they  are  closely  guarded  because  they  are  valuable  chattels. 
One  intelligent  woman,  when  I  pressed  her  hard  to  say  what 
they  thought  of  our  customs  in  the  matter,  replied,  ''  We  think 
that  your  husbands  don't  care  for  you  very  much  "  ! 

Concubinage  is  a  recognized  institution,  but  not  a  respected 
one.  The  wife  or  mother  of  a  man  not  infrequently  selects 
the  cuncubine,  who  in  many  cases  is  looked  upon  by  the  wife 
as  a  proper  appendage  of  her  husband's  means  or  position, 
much  as  a  carriage  or  a  butler  might  be  with  us.  The  off- 
spring in  these  cases  are  under  a  serious  social  stigma,  and 
until  lately  have  been  excluded  from  some  desirable  positions. 
Legally  the  Korean  is  a  strict  monogamist,  and  even  when  a 
widower  marries  again,  and  there  are  children  by  the  second 
marriage,  those  of  the  first  wife  retain  special  rights. 

There  are  no  native  schools  for  girls,  and  though  women  of 
the  upper  classes  learn  to  read  the  native  script,  the  number 
of  Korean  women  who  can  read  is  estimated  at  two  in  a  thou- 
sand. It  appears  that  a  philosophy  largely  imported  from 
China,  superstitions  regarding  daemons,  the  education  of  men, 
illiteracy,  a  minimum  of  legal  rights,  and  inexorable  custom 
have  combined  to  give  woman  as  low  a  status  in  civilized 
Korea  as  in  any  of  the  barbarous  countries  in  the  world.  Yet 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Korean  woman,  in  addition  to 
being  a  born  intrigante^  exercises  a  certain  direct  influence, 
especially  as  mother  and  mother-in-law,  and  in  the  arrange- 
ment of  marriages. 

Her  rights  are  few,  and  depend  on  custom  rather  than  law. 
She  now  possesses  the  right  of  remarriage,  and  that  of  remain- 
ing unmarried  till  she  is  sixteen,  and  she  can  refuse  permission 


Social  Position  of  Women  343 

to  her  husband  for  his  concubines  to  occupy  the  same  house 
with  herself.  She  is  powerless  to  divorce  her  husband,  con- 
jugal fidelity,  typified  by  the  goose,  the  symbolic  figure  at  a 
wedding,  being  a  feminine  virtue  solely.  Her  husband  may 
cast  her  off  for  seven  reasons — incurable  disease,  theft,  child- 
lessness, infidelity,  jealousy,  incompatibility  with  her  parents- 
in-law,  and  a  quarrelsome  disposition.  She  may  be  sent  back 
to  her  father's  house  for  any  one  of  these  causes.  It  is  be- 
lieved, however,  that  desertion  is  far  more  frequent  than 
divorce.  By  custom  rather  than  law  she  has  certain  recog- 
nized rights,  as  to  the  control  of  children,  redress  in  case  of 
damage,  etc.  Domestic  happiness  is  a  thing  she  does  not  look 
for.  The  Korean  has  a  house,  but  no  home.  The  husband 
has  his  life  apart;  common  ties  of  friendship  and  external  in- 
terest are  not  known.  His  pleasure  is  taken  in  company  with 
male  acquaintances  and  gesang  ;  and  the  marriage  relationship 
is  briefly  summarized  in  the  remark  of  a  Korean  gentleman  in 
conversation  with  me  on  the  subject,  **  We  marry  our  wives, 
but  we  love  our  concubines." 


CHAPTER  XXX 

EXORCISTS   AND   DANCING   WOMEN 

AT  Cha  san,  a  magistracy,  we  rejoined  the  road  from  which 
we  had  diverged  on  the  northward  journey.  It  is  a 
quiet,  decayed  place,  though  in  a  good  agricultural  country. 
As  I  had  been  there  before,  the  edge  of  curiosity  was  blunted, 
and  there  was  no  mobbing.  The  people  gave  a  distressing  ac- 
count of  their  sufferings  from  the  Chinese  soldiers,  who  robbed 
them  unscrupulously,  took  what  they  wanted  without  paying, 
and  maltreated  the  women.  The  Koreans  deserted,  through 
fright,  the  adjacent  ferry  village  of  Ou-Chin-gang,  where  we 
previously  crossed  the  Tai-dong,  and  it  was  held  by  53  Chi- 
nese, being  an  important  post.  Two  Japanese  scouts  appeared 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river,  fired,  and  the  Chinese  detach- 
ment broke  and  fled  !  At  Cha  san,  as  elsewhere,  the  people 
expressed  intense  hatred  of  the  Japanese,  going  so  far  as  to  say 
that  they  would  not  leave  one  of  them  alive ;  but,  as  in  all 
other  places,  they  bore  unwilling  testimony  to  the  good  con- 
duct of  the  soldiers,  and  the  regularity  with  which  the  com- 
missariat paid  for  supplies. 

The  Japanese  detachments  were  being  withdrawn  from  the 
posts  along  that  road,  and  we  passed  several  well-equipped  de- 
tachments, always  preceded  by  bulls  loaded  with  red  blankets. 
The  men  were  dressed  in  heavy  gray  ulsters  with  deep  fur- 
lined  collars,  and  had  very  thick  felt  gloves.  They  marched 
as  if  on  parade,  and  their  officers  were  remarkable  for  their 
smartness.  When  they  halted  for  dinner,  they  found  every- 
thing ready,  and  had  nothing  to  do  but  stack  their  arms  and 
eat !     The  peasant  women  went  on  with  their  avocations  as 

344 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  345 

usual.  In  that  district  and  in  the  region  about  Tok  Chhon, 
the  women  seclude  themselves  in  monstrous  hats  like  our 
wicker  garden  sentry-boxes,  but  without  bottoms.  These  ex- 
traordinary coverings  are  7  feet  long,  5  broad,  and  3  deep, 
and  shroud  the  figure  from  head  to  foot.  Heavy  rain  fell 
during  the  night,  and  though  the  following  day  was  beautiful, 
the  road  was  a  deep  quagmire,  so  infamously  bad  that  when 
only  two  and  a  half  hours  from  Phyong-yang  we  had  to  stop 
at  the  wayside  inn  of  An-chin-Miriok,  where  I  slept  in  a  gran- 
ary only  screened  from  the  stable  by  a  bamboo  mat,  and  had 
the  benefit  of  the  squealing  and  vindictive  sounds  which  ac- 
companied numerous  abortive  fights.  If  possible,  the  next 
day  exceeded  its  predecessors  in  beauty,  and  though  the  draw- 
backs of  Korean  travelling  are  many,  this  journey  had  been  so 
bright  and  so  singularly  prosperous,  except  for  Im's  accident, 
which,  however,  brought  out  some  of  the  best  points  of  Korean 
character,  that  I  was  even  sorry  to  leave  the  miserable  little 
hostelry  and  conclude  the  expedition,  and  part  with  ihe^napUy 
who  throughout  had  behaved  extremely  well.  The  next  morn- 
ing, crossing  the  battlefield  once  more  and  passing  through 
the  desolations  which  war  had  wrought,  I  reached  my  old, 
cold,  but  comparatively  comfortable  quarters  at  Phyong-yang, 
where  I  remained  for  six  days. 

While  the  river  remained  open,  a  small  Korean  steamer  of 
uncertain  habits,  the  Hariong,  plied  nominally  between 
Phyong-yang  and  Chemulpo,  but  actually  ran  from  Po-san,  a 
point  about  60  //  lower  down  the  Tai-dong,  which  above  it  is 
too  shallow  and  full  of  sandbanks  for  vessels  of  any  draught, 
necessitating  the  transhipment  of  all  goods  not  brought  up  by 
junks  of  small  tonnage.  There  was,  however,  no  telegraph 
between  Po-san  and  Phyong-yang,  no  one  knew  when  the 
steamer  arrived  except  by  cargo  coming  up  the  river,  and  she 
only  remained  a  few  hours  ;  so  that  my  visit  to  Phyong-yang 
was  agitated  by  the  fear  of  losing  her,  and  having  to  make  a 
long  land  journey  when   time  was  precious.     There  was  no 


34^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Korean  post,  and  the  Japanese  military  post  and  telegraph  of- 
fice absolutely  refused  to  carry  messages  or  letters  for  civilians. 
Wild  rumors,  of  which  there  were  a  goodly  crop  every  hour, 
were  the  substitute  for  news. 

A  subject  of  special  interest  and  inquiry  at  Phyong-yang 
was  mission  work  as  carried  on  by  American  missionaries.  At 
Seoul  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  get  into  touch  with  it,  as,  being 
older,  it  has  naturally  more  of  religious  conventionality.  But 
I  will  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  longer  and  more  in- 
timate acquaintance  only  confirmed  the  high  opinion  I  early 
formed  of  the  large  body  of  missionaries  in  Seoul,  of  their 
earnestness  and  devotion  to  their  work,  of  the  energetic,  hope- 
ful, and  patient  spirit  in  which  it  is  carried  on,  of  the  harmony 
prevailing  among  the  different  denominations,  and  the  cordial 
and  sympathetic  feeling  towards  the  Koreans.  The  interest  of 
many  of  the  missionaries  in  Korean  history,  folklore,  and  cus- 
toms, as  evidenced  by  the  pages  of  the  valuable  monthly,  the 
Korean  Repository^  is  also  very  admirable,  and  a  traveller  in 
Korea  must  apply  to  them  for  information  vainly  sought  else- 
where. 

Christian  missions  were  unsuccessful  in  Phyong-yang.  It 
was  a  very  rich  and  very  immoral  city.  More  than  once  it 
turned  out  some  of  the  missionaries,  and  rejected  Christianity 
with  much  hostility.  Strong  antagonism  prevailed,  the  city 
was  thronged  with  gesang,  courtesans,  and  sorcerers,  and  was 
notorious  for  its  wealth  and  infamy.  The  Methodist  Mission 
was  broken  up  for  a  time,  and  in  six  years  the  Presbyterians 
only  numbered  28  converts.  Then  came  the  war,  the  destruc- 
tion of  Phyong-yang,  its  desertion  by  its  inhabitants,  the  ruin 
of  its  trade,  the  reduction  of  its  population  from  60,000  or 
70,000  to  15,000,  and  the  flight  of  the  few  Christians. 

Since  the  war  there  had  been  a  very  great  change.  There 
had  been  28  baptisms,  and  some  of  the  most  notorious  evil 
livers  among  the  middle  classes,  men  shunned  by  other  men 
for  their  exceeding  wickedness,  were  leading  pure  and  right- 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  347 

eous  lives.  There  were  140  catechumens  under  instruction, 
and  subject  to  a  long  period  of  probation  before  receiving  bap- 
tism, and  the  temporary  church,  though  enlarged  during  my 
absence,  was  so  overcrowded  that  many  of  the  worshippers 
were  compelled  to  remain  outside.  The  offertories  were  lib- 
eral.^ In  the  dilapidated  extra-mural  premises  occupied  by 
the  missionaries,  thirty  men  were  living  for  twenty-one  days, 
two  from  each  of  fifteen  villages,  all  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  and  earnestly  receiving  instruction  in  Christian 
fact  and  doctrine.  They  were  studying  for  six  hours  daily 
with  teachers,  and  for  a  far  longer  time  amongst  themselves, 
and  had  meetings  for  prayer,  singing,  and  informal  talk  each 
evening.  I  attended  three  of  these,  and  as  Mr.  Moffett  inter- 
preted for  me,  I  was  placed  in  touch  with  much  of  what  was 
unusual  and  interesting,  and  learned  more  of  missions  in  their 
earlier  stage  than  anywhere  else. 

Besides  the  thirty  men  from  the  villages,  the  Christians  and 
catechumens  from  the  city  crowded  the  room  and  doorways. 
Two  missionaries  sat  on  the  floor  at  one  end  of  the  room  with 
a  kerosene  lamp  mounted  securely  on  two  wooden  pillows  in 
front  of  them — then  there  were  a  few  candles  on  the  floor, 
centres  of  closely-packed  groups.  Hymns  were  howled  in 
many  keys  to  familiar  tunes,  several  Koreans  prayed,  bowing 
their  foreheads  to  the  earth  in  reverence,  after  which  some 
gave  accounts  of  how  the  Gospel  reached  their  villages, 
chiefly  through  visits  from  the  few  Phyong-yang  Christians, 
who  were  ''scattered  abroad,"  and  then  two  men,  who  seemed 

'  The  Seoul  Christian  Nexvs,  a  paper  recently  started,  gave  its  readers 
an  account  of  the  Indian  famine,  with  the  result  that  the  Christians  in  the 
magistracy  of  Chang-yang  raised  among  themselves  ^84  for  the  sufferers 
in  a  land  they  had  hardly  heard  of,  some  of  the  women  sending  their  solid 
silver  rings  to  he  turned  into  cash.  In  Seoul  the  native  Presbyterian 
churches  gave  ^60  to  the  same  fund,  of  wliich  ^20  were  collected  by  a 
new  congregation  organized  entirely  by  Koreans.  I  am  under  the  im- 
pression that  the  liberality  of  the  Korean  Christians  in  proportion  to  their 
means  far  exceeds  our  own. 


348  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

very  eloquent  as  well  as  fluent,  and  riveted  the  attention  of  all, 
gave  narratives  of  two  other  men  who  they  believed  were  pos- 
sessed with  devils,  and  said  the  devils  had  been  driven  out  a 
few  months  previously  by  united  prayer,  and  that  the  ''foul 
spirits"  were  adjured  in  the  name  of  Jesus  to  come  out,  and 
that  the  men  trembled  and  turned  cold  as  the  devils  left  them, 
never  to  return,  and  that  both  became  Christians,  along  with 
many  who  saw  them. 

A  good  many  men  came  from  distant  villages  one  afternoon 
to  ask  for  Christian  teaching,  and  in  the  evening  one  after 
another  got  up  and  told  how  a  refugee  from  Phyong-yang  had 
come  to  his  village  and  had  told  them  that  they  were  both 
wicked  and  foolish  to  worship  daemons,  and  that  they  were 
wrongdoers,  and  that  there  is  a  Lord  of  Heaven  who  judges 
wrongdoing,  but  that  He  is  as  loving  as  any  father,  and  that 
they  did  not  know  what  to  think,  but  that  in  some  places 
twenty  and  more  were  meeting  daily  to  worship  "the  High- 
est," and  that  many  of  the  women  had  buried  the  daemon 
fetishes,  and  that  they  wanted  some  one  to  go  and  teach  them 
how  to  worship  the  true  God. 

A  young  man  told  how  his  father,  nearly  eighty  years  old, 
had  met  Mr.  Moffett  by  the  roadside,  and  hearing  from  him 
"some  good  things,"  had  gone  home  saying  he  had  heard 
"good  news,"  "  great  news,"  and  had  got  "the  Books,"  and 
that  he  had  become  a  Christian,  and  lived  a  good  life,  and 
had  called  his  neighbors  together  to  hear  "the  news,"  and 
would  not  rest  till  his  son  had  come  to  be  taught  in  the  "  good 
news,"  and  take  back  a  teacher.  An  elderly  man,  who  had 
made  a  good  living  by  sorcery,  came  and  gave  Mr.  Moffett 
the  instruments  of  his  trade,  saying  he  "  had  served  devils  all 
his  life,  but  now  he  knew  that  they  were  wicked  spirits,  and 
he  was  serving  the  true  God." 

On  the  same  afternoon  four  requests  for  Christian  teaching 
came  to  the  missionaries,  each  signed  by  from  fifteen  to  forty 
men.     At  all  these  evening  meetings  the  room  was  crammed 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  349 

within  and  without  by  men,  reverent  and  earnest  in  manner, 
some  of  whom  had  been  shunned  for  their  wickedness  even  in 
a  city  "  the  smoke  of  which  "  in  her  pahny  days  was  said  '*  to 
go  up  like  the  smoke  of  Sodom,"  but  who,  transformed  by  a 
power  outside  themselves,  were  then  leading  exemplary  lives. 
There  were  groups  in  the  dark,  groups  round  the  candles  on 
the  floor,  groups  in  the  doorways,  and  every  face  was  aglow 
except  that  of  poor,  bewildered  Im.  One  old  man,  with  his 
forehead  in  the  dust,  prayed  like  a  child  that,  as  the  letter 
bearing  to  New  York  an  earnest  request  for  more  teachers  was 
on  its  way,  ''  the  wind  and  sea  might  waft  it  favorably,"  and 
that  when  it  was  read  the  eyes  of  the  foreigners^  might  be 
opened  ''to  see  the  sore  need  of  people  in  a  land  where  no 
one  knows  anything,  and  where  all  believe  in  devils,  and  are 
dying  in  the  dark." 

As  I  looked  upon  those  lighted  faces,  wearing  an  expression 
strongly  contrasting  with  the  dull,  dazed  look  of  apathy  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  Korean,  it  was  impossible  not  to  recog- 
nize that  it  was  the  teaching  of  the  Apostolic  doctrines  of  sin, 
judgment  to  come,  and  divine  love  which  had  brought  about 
such  results,  all  the  more  remarkable  because,  according  to  the 
missionaries,  a  large  majority  of  those  who  had  renounced 
daemon  worship,  and  were  living  in  the  fear  of  the  true  God, 
had  been  attracted  to  Cliristianity  in  the  first  instance  by  the 
hope  of  gain  !  This,  and  almost  unvarying  testimony  to  the 
same  effect,  confirm  me  in  the  opinion  that  when  people  talk 
of  ''nations  craving  for  the  Gospel,"  ''stretching  out  plead- 
ing hands  for  it,"  or  "  athirst  for  God,"  or  "longing  for  the 
living  waters,"  they  are  using  words  which  in  that  connection 
have  no  meaning.  That  there  are  "  seekers  after  righteous- 
ness "  here  and  there  I  do  not  doubt,  but  I  believe  that  the 
one  "craving"  of  the  far  East  is  for  money— that  "unrest" 
is  only  in  the  east  a  synonym  for  poverty,  and  that  the  spiritual 
instincts  have  yet  to  be  created. 

1  The  American  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 


350  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

On  the  Sunday  I  went  with  Dr.  Scranton  of  Seoul  to  the 
first  regular  service  ever  held  for  women  in  Phyong-yang. 
There  were  a  number  present,  all  daemon-worshippers,  some 
of  them  attracted  by  the  sight  of  a  ''  foreign  woman."  It  was 
impossible  to  have  a  formal  service  with  people  who  had  not  the 
most  elementary  ideas  of  God,  of  prayer,  of  moral  evil,  and  of 
good.  It  was  not  possible  to  secure  their  attention.  They 
were  destitute  of  religious  ideas.  An  elderly  matron,  who 
acted  as  a  sort  of  spokeswoman  said,  "They  thought  perhaps 
God  is  a  big  daemon,  and  He  might  help  them  to  get  back 
their  lost  goods."  That  service  was  "mission  work"  in  its 
earliest  stage. 

On  returning  from  a  service  in  the  afternoon  where  there 
were  crowds  of  bright  intelligent-looking  worshippers,  we 
came  upon  one  of  the  most  important  ceremonies  connected 
with  the  popular  belief  in  daemons — the  exorcism  of  an  evil 
spirit  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  cause  of  a  severe  illness. 
Never  by  night  or  day  on  my  two  visits  to  Phyong-yang  had  I 
been  out  of  hearing  of  the  roll  of  the  sorcerer's  drum,  with 
the  loud  vibratory  clash  of  cymbals  as  an  intermittent  accom- 
paniment.    Such  sounds  attracted  us  to  the  place  of  exorcism. 

In  a  hovel  with  an  open  door  a  man  lay  very  ill.  The  space 
in  front  was  matted  and  enclosed  by  low  screens,  within  which 
were  Korean  tables  loaded  with  rice  cakes,  boiled  rice,  stewed 
chicken,  sprouted  beans  and  other  delicacies.  In  this  open 
space  squatted  three  old  women,  two  of  whom  beat  large 
drums,  shaped  like  hour-glasses,  while  the  third  clashed  large 
cymbals.  Facing  them  was  the  ;;///-/^;/^  or  sorceress,  dressed 
in  rose-pink  silk,  with  a  buff  gauze  robe,  with  its  sleeves  trail- 
ing much  on  the  ground,  over  it.  Pieces  of  paper  resembling 
the  Shinto  ^^//(?/ decorated  her  hair,  and  a  curious  cap  of  buff 
gauze  with  red  patches  upon  it,  completed  the  not  inelegant 
costume.  She  carried  a  fan,  but  it  was  only  used  occasionally 
in  one  of  the  dances.  She  carried  over  her  left  shoulder  a  stick, 
painted  with  bands  of  bright  colors,  from  which  hung  a  gong 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  351 

which  she  beat  with  a  similar  stick,  executing  at  the  same  time 
a  slow  rhythmic  movement  accompanied  by  a  chant.  From 
time  to  time  one  of  the  ancient  drummers  gathered  on  one 
plate  pieces  from  all  the  others  and  scattered  them  to  the  four 
winds  for  the  spirits  to  eat,  invoking  them,  saying,  ''Do  not 
trouble  this  house  any  more,  and  we  will  again  appease  you  by 
offerings." 

The  mu-tang  is,  of  course,  according  to  the  belief  of  those 
who  seek  her  services,  possessed  by  a  powerful  daemon,  and 
by  means  of  her  incantations  might  induce  this  daemon  to 
evict  the  one  which  was  causing  the  sickness  by  aiding  her 
exorcisms,  but  where  the  latter  is  particularly  obstinate,  she 
may  require  larger  fees  and  more  offerings  in  order  that  she 
may  use  incantations  for  bringing  to  her  aid  a  yet  more  power- 
ful daemon  than  her  own.  The  exorcism  lasted  fourteen  hours, 
until  four  the  next  morning,  when  the  patient  began  to  recover. 
A  crowd,  chiefly  composed  of  women  and  children,  stood  round 
the  fence,  the  children  imbibing  devilry  from  their  infancy. 

I  was  not  at  a  regular  inn  in  Phyong-yang  but  at  a  broker's 
house,  with  a  yard  to  myself  nominally,  but  which  was  by  no 
means  private.  Im  generally,  and  not  roughly,  requested  the 
people  to  "move  on,"  but  he  made  two  exceptions,  one  being 
in  favor  of  a  madwoman  of  superior  appearance  and  apparel 
who  haunted  me  on  my  second  visit,  hanging  about  the  open 
front  of  my  room,  and  following  me  to  the  mission-house  and 
elsewhere.  She  said  that  I  was  her  grandmother  and  that  she 
must  go  with  me  everywhere,  and,  like  many  mad  people,  she 
had  an  important  and  mysterious  communication  to  make 
which  for  obvious  reasons  never  reached  me.  She  was  the 
concubine  of  a  late  governor  of  the  city,  and  not  having 
escaped  before  its  capture,  went  mad  from  horror  at  seeing  the 
Chinese  spitted  on  the  bayonets  of  the  Japanese.  She  carried 
a  long  bodkin,  and  went  through  distressing  pantomimes  of 
running  people  through  with  it ! 

The  other  exception  was  in  favor  of  gesang,  upon  whose 


352  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

presence  Im  looked  quite  approvingly,  and  evidently  thought  I 
did. 

Phyong-yang  has  always  been  famous  for  the  beauty  and 
accomplishments  of  its  gesang,  singing  and  dancing  girls, 
resembling  in  many  respects  the  geishas  of  Japan,  but  cor- 
rectly speaking  they  mostly  belong  to  the  Government,  and 
are  supported  by  the  Korean  Treasury.  At  the  time  of  my 
two  first  sojourns  in  Seoul,  about  seventy  of  them  were  at- 
tached to  the  Royal  Palace.  They  were  under  the  control  of 
the  same  Government  department  as  that  with  which  the  official 
musicians  are  connected. 

As  a  poor  man  gifted  with  many  sons,  for  whom  he  cannot 
provide,  sometimes  presents  one  to  the  government  as  a 
eunuch,  so  he  may  give  a  girl  to  be  a  gesaiig.  The  gesang 
are  trained  from  a  very  early  age  in  such  accomplishments  as 
other  Korean  women  lack,  and  which  will  ensure  their 
attractiveness,  such  as  playing  on  various  musical  instruments, 
singing,  dancing,  reading,  reciting,  writing,  and  fancy  work. 
As  their  destiny  is  to  make  time  pass  agreeably  for  men  of  the 
upper  classes,  this  amount  of  education  is  essential,  though  a 
Korean  does  not  care  how  blank  and  undeveloped  the  mind  of 
his  wife  is.  The  gesang  are  always  elegantly  dressed,  as  they 
were  when  they  came  to  see  me,  even  through  the  mud  of  the 
Phyong-yang  streets,  and  as  they  have  not  known  seclusion, 
their  manners  with  both  sexes  have  a  graceful  ease.  Their 
dancing,  like  that  of  most  Oriental  countries,  consists  chiefly 
of  posturing,  and  is  said  by  those  foreigners  who  have  seen  it, 
to  be  perfectly  free  from  impropriety. 

Dr.  Allen,  Secretary  to  the  U.S.  Legation  at  Seoul,  in  a 
paper  in  the  Korean  Repository  for  1886,  describes  among 
the  dances  which  specially  interest  foreigners  at  the  entertain- 
ments at  the  Royal  Palace  one  known  as  the  "  Lotus  Dance." 
In  this,  he  writes,  "A  tub  is  brought  in  containing  a  large 
lotus  flower  just  ready  to  burst  open.  Two  imitation  storks 
then  come  in,  each  one  being  a  man  very  cleverly  disguised. 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  353 

These  birds  flap  their  wings,  snap  their  beaks,  and  dance  round 
in  admiration  of  the  beautiful  bud  which  tliey  evidently  intend 
to  pluck  as  soon  as  they  have  enjoyed  it  sufficiently  in  antic- 
ipation. Their  movements  all  this  time  are  very  graceful, 
and  they  come  closer  and  closer  to  the  flower  keeping  time  to 
the  soft  music.  At  last  the  proper  time  arrives,  the  flower  is 
plucked,  when,  as  the  pink  petals  fall  back,  out  steps  a  little 
gesang  to  the  evident  amazement  of  the  birds,  and  to  the  in- 
tense delight  of  the  younger  spectators." 

The  Sword  and  Dragon  dances  are  also  extremely  popular, 
and  on  great  occasions  the  performance  is  never  complete  with- 
out **  Throwing  the  Ball,"  which  consists  in  a  series  of  grace- 
ful arm  movements  before  a  painted  arch,  after  which  the 
gesang  march  in  procession  before  the  King,  and  the  success- 
ful dancers  receive  presents. 

Though  the  most  beautiful  and  attractive  gesang  come  from 
Phyong-yang,  they  are  found  throughout  the  country.  From 
the  King  down  to  the  lowest  official  who  can  afford  the  luxury, 
the  presence  of  gesang  is  regarded  at  every  entertainment  as 
indispensable  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  guests.  They  appear  at 
official  dinners  at  the  Foreign  Office,  and  at  the  palace  are  the 
chief  entertainers,  and  sing  and  dance  at  the  many  parties 
which  are  given  by  Koreans  at  the  picnic  resorts  near  Seoul, 
and  though  attached  to  the  prefectures,  and  various  other  depart- 
ments, may  be  hired  by  gentlemen  to  give  fascination  to  their 
feasts. 

Their  training  and  non-secluded  position  place  them,  how- 
ever, outside  of  the  reputable  classes,  and  though  in  Japan 
geishas  often  become  the  wives  of  nobles  and  even  of  statesmen, 
no  Korean  man  would  dream  of  raising  a  gesang  to  such  a 
position. 

Dr.  Allen,  who  has  had  special  opportunities  of  becoming 
acquainted  with  the  inner  social  life  of  Korea,  says  that  they 
are  the  source  of  much  heartburning  to  the  legal  but  neglected 
wife,  who  in  no  case  is  the  wife  of  her  husband's  choice,  and 


354  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

that  Korean  folklore  abounds  with  stories  of  discord  arising  in 
families  from  attachments  to  gesang,  and  of  ardent  and  pro- 
longed devotion  on  the  part  of  young  noblemen  to  these  girls, 
who  they  are  prevented  from  marrying  by  rigid  custom.  There 
is  a  Korean  tale  called  The  Swallow  King's  Rewards  in  which 
a  man  is  visited  with  the  "  ten  plagues  of  Korea,"  for  mal- 
treating a  wounded  swallow,  and  in  it  gesang  are  represented 
along  with  mu-tang  as  **  among  the  ten  curses  of  the  land." 

Dr.  Allen,  to  whom  I  owe  this  fact  writes,  *'  Doubtless  they 
are  so  considered  by  many  a  lonely  wife,  as  well  as  by  the 
fathers  who  mourn  to  see  their  sons  wasting  their  substance  in 
riotous  living,  as  they  doubtless  did  themselves  when  they  were 
young." 

The  house  in  which  I  had  quarters  was  much  resorted  to  by 
merchants  for  whom  my  host  transacted  brokerage  business, 
and  entertainments  were  the  order  of  the  day.  Mr.  Yi  was 
invited  to  dinner  daily,  and  on  the  last  evening  entertained  all 
who  had  invited  him.  Such  meals  cost  per  head  as  much  as  a 
dinner  at  the  St.  James's  restaurant !  Noise  seems  essential  to 
these  gatherings.     The  men  shout  at  the  top  of  their  voices. 

There  is  an  enormous  amount  of  visiting  and  entertaining 
among  men  in  the  cities.  Some  public  men  keep  open  house, 
giving  their  servants  as  much  as  ^60  a  day  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  guests.  Men  who  are  in  easy  circumstances  go  con- 
tinually from  one  house  to  another  to  kill  time.  They  never 
talk  politics,  it  is  too  dangerous,  but  retail  the  latest  gossip  of 
the  court  or  city  and  the  witticisms  attributed  to  great  men, 
and  tell,  hear,  and  invent  news.  The  front  rooms  of  houses 
in  which  the  men  live  are  open  freely  to  all  comers.  In  some 
circles,  though  it  is  said  to  a  far  less  extent  than  formerly,  men 
meet  and  talk  over  what  we  should  call  ''questions  of  literary 
criticism,"  compare  poetic  compositions,  the  ability  to  com- 
pose a  page  of  poetry  being  the  grand  result  of  Korean  educa- 
tion, and  discuss  the  meaning  of  celebrated  works — all  litera- 
ture being  in  Chinese. 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  355 

The  common  people  meet  in  the  streets,  the  house  fronts, 
and  the  inns.  They  ask  each  other  endless  questions,  of  a 
nature  that  we  should  think  most  impertinent,  regarding  each 
other's  business,  work,  and  money  transactions,  and  for  the  latest 
news.  It  is  every  man's  business  to  hear  or  create  all  the  news 
he  can.  What  he  hears  he  embellishes  by  lies  and  exaggera- 
tions, Korea  is  the  country  of  wild  rumors.  What  a  Korean 
knows,  or  rather  hears,  he  tells.  According  to  Pere  Dallet,  he 
does  not  know  the  meaning  of  reserve,  though  he  is  utterly 
devoid  of  frankness.  Men  live  in  company  in  each  others' 
houses.  Domestic  life  is  unknown.  The  women  in  the  inner 
rooms  receive  female  visitors,  and  the  girl  children  are  present. 
The  boys  at  a  very  early  age  are  removed  to  the  men's  apart- 
ments, where  they  learn  from  the  conversation  they  hear  that 
every  man  who  respects  himself  must  regard  women  with  con- 
tempt. 

We  left  Phyong-yang  for  Po-san  in  a  very  small  boat  in 
which  six  people  and  their  luggage  were  uncomfortably  packed 
and  cramped.  One  of  the  two  boatmen  was  literally  **down 
with  fever,"  but  with  one  and  the  strong  ebb-tide  we  accom- 
plished 20  miles  in  six  hours,  and  were  well  pleased  to  find  the 
Hariong  lying  at  anchor,  as  we  had  not  been  able  to  get  any 
definite  information  concerning  her,  and  I  never  believed  in 
her  till  I  saw  her.  The  Tai-dong  has  some  historic  interest, 
for  up  its  broad  waters  sailed  Ki-ja  or  Kit-ze  with  his  army  of 
5,000  men  on  the  way  to  found  Phyong-yang  and  Korean  civi- 
lization, and  down  it  fled  Ki-jun,  the  last  king  of  the  first  dy- 
nasty from  the  forces  of  Wei-man  descending  from  the  north. 
Phyong-yang  impressed  me  as  it  did  Consul  Carles  with  its 
natural  suitability  for  commerce,  and  this  Tai-dong,  navigable 
up  to  the  city  for  small  junks,  is  the  natural  outlet  for  beans 
and  cotton,  some  of  which  find  their  way  to  Newchwang  for 
shipment,  for  the  rich  iron  ore  which  lies  close  to  the  river 
banks  at  Kai  Chhon,  for  the  gold  of  Keum-san  only  20  miles 
off,  for  the  abounding  coal  of  the  immediate  neighborhood ; 


35^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

for  the  hides,  which  are  now  carried  on  men's  backs  to  Che- 
mulpo, and  for  the  products  of  what  is  said  to  be  a  consider- 
able silk  industry. 

In  going  down  the  river  something  is  seen  of  the  original 
size  of  Phyong-yang,  for  the  "earth  wall"  on  solid  masonry, 
built,  it  is  said,  by  Kit-ze  3,000  years  ago,  follows  the  right 
bank  of  the  Tai-dong  for  about  four  miles  before  it  turns  away 
to  the  north,  to  terminate  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  on  which  is  the 
reputed  grave  of  its  builder.  This  extends  in  that  direction 
possibly  three  miles  beyond  the  present  wall. 

The  plain  through  which  the  river  runs  is  fertile  and  well 
cultivated,  though  the  shining  mud  flats  at  low  tide  are  any- 
thing but  prepossessing.  Various  rivers,  enabling  boats  of  light 
draught  to  penetrate  the  country,  most  of  them  rising  in  the  pic- 
turesque mountain  ranges  which  descend  on  the  plain,  specially 
on  its  western  side,  join  the  Tai-dong. 

Much  had  been  said  of  the  Hariong.  I  was  told  I  "  should 
be  all  right  if  I  could  get  the  Hariong,''  that  "the  Hariong' s 
a  most  comfortable  little  boat — she  has  ten  staterooms,"  and 
as  we  approached  her  in  the  mist,  very  wet,  and  stiff  from  the 
length  of  time  spent  in  a  cramped  position,  I  conjured  up  vis- 
ions of  comfort  and  even  luxury  which  were  not  to  be  realized. 

She  was  surrounded  by  Japanese  junks,  Japanese  soldiers 
crowded  her  gangways,  and  Japanese  officers  were  directing 
the  loading.  We  hooked  on  to  the  junks  and  lay  in  the  rain 
for  an  hour,  nobody  taking  the  slightest  notice  of  us.  Mr.  Yi 
then  scrambled  on  board  and  there  was  another  half-hour's  de- 
lay, which  took  us  into  the  early  darkness.  He  reappeared, 
saying  there  was  no  cabin  and  we  must  go  on  shore.  But  there 
was  no  place  to  sleep  on  shore  and  it  was  the  last  steamer,  so  I 
climbed  on  board  and  Im  hurried  in  the  baggage.  It  was  rain- 
ing and  blowing,  and  we  were  huddled  on  the  wet  deck  like 
steerage  passengers,  Japanese  soldiers  and  commissariat  offi- 
cers there  as  elsewhere  in  Korea,  masters  of  the  situation.  Mr. 
Yi  was  frantic  that  he,  a  Government  official,  and  one  from 


Exorcists  and  Dancing  Women  357 

whom  "  the  Japanese  had  to  ask  a  hundred  favors  a  month  " 
should  be  treated  with  such  indignity  !  The  vessel  was  hired 
by  the  Japanese  commissariat  department  to  go  to  Nagasaki, 
calling  at  Chemulpo,  and  we  were  really,  though  unintention- 
ally, interlopers  ! 

There  was  truly  no  room  for  me,  and  the  arrangement 
whereby  I  received  shelter  was  essentially  Japanese.  I  lived 
in  a  minute  saloon  with  the  commissariat  officers,  and  fed  pre- 
cariously, Im  dealing  out  to  me,  at  long  intervals,  the  remains 
of  a  curry  which  he  had  had  the  forethought  to  bring.  There 
was  a  Korean  purser,  but  the  poor  dazed  fellow  was  "no- 
where," being  totally  superseded  by  a  brisk  young  manikin 
who,  in  the  intervals  of  business,  came  to  me,  notebook  in 
hand,  that  I  might  help  him  to  enlarge  his  English  vocabulary. 
The  only  sign  of  vitality  that  the  limp,  displaced  purser  showed 
was  to  exclaim  with  energy  more  than  once,  "I  hate  these 
Japanese,  they've  taken  our  own  ships." 

Fortunately  the  sea  was  quite  still,  and  the  weather  was  dry 
and  fine  ;  even  Yon-yung  Pa-da,  a  disagreeable  stretch  of 
ocean  off  the  Whang  Hai  coast,  was  quiet,  the  halt  of  nearly 
a  day  off  the  new  treaty  port  of  Chin-nam-po  where  the  mud 
flats  extend  far  out  from  the  shore,  was  not  disagreeable,  and 
we  reached  the  familiar  harbor  of  Chemulpo  by  a  glorious  sun- 
set on  the  frosty  evening  of  the  third  day  from  Po-san,  the 
voyage  in  a  small  Asiatic  transport  having  turned  out  better 
than  could  have  been  expected. 

ITINERARY 
Seoul  to — 

Li. 

Ko-yang 40 

Pa  Ju 40 

0-mok 40 

Ohur-chuk  Kio 30 

Song-do 10 

0-hung-suk  Ju 30 

Kun-ko  Kai 30 


358  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Seoul  to — 

Li. 

Tol  Maru 35 

An-shung-pa  Pal 25 

Shur-hung 30 

Hung-shou  Wan 30 

Pong-san 40 

Whang  Ju 40 

Kur-moun  Tari       .......  30 

Chi-dol-pa  Pal .  40 

Phyong  yang 30 

Mori-ko  Kai  ........  30 

Liang-yang  Chang  ......  30 

Cha-san ,         .         .  30 

Shou-yang  Yi 40 

Ha-kai  Oil 35 

Ka  Chang     ........  35 

Hu-ok  Kuri 40 

Tok  Chhon    ........  30 

Shur-chong 30 

An-kil  Yung 20 

Shil-yi 40 


Mou-chin  Tai 


25 


Sun  Chhon 35 

Cha-san 30 

Siang-yang  Chhon 40 

An-chin  Miriok 30 

Phyong-yang 20 


Total  land  journey       ....  1060 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

THE   HAIR-CROPPING    EDICT 

THE  year  1896  opened  for  Korea  in  a  gloom  as  profound 
as  that  in  which  the  previous  year  had  closed.  There 
were  small  insurrections  in  all  quarters,  various  officials  were 
killed,  and  some  of  the  rebels  threatened  to  march  on  the 
capital.  Japanese  influence  declined,  Japanese  troops  were 
gradually  withdrawn  from  the  posts  they  had  occupied,  the 
engagements  of  many  of  the  Japanese  advisers  and  controllers 
in  departments  expired  and  were  not  renewed,  some  of  the  re- 
forms instituted  by  Japan  during  the  period  of  her  ascendency 
died  a  natural  death,  there  was  a  distinctly  retrograde  move- 
ment, and  government  was  disintegrating  all  over  the  land. 

The  general  agitation  in  the  country  and  several  of  the  more 
serious  of  the  outbreaks  had  a  cause  which,  while  to  our  think- 
ing it  is  ludicrous,  shows  as  much  as  anything  else  the  intense 
conservatism  of  pung-kok  or  custom  which  prevails  among  the 
Koreans.  The  cause  was  an  attack  on  the  "  Top  Knot "  by  a 
Royal  Edict  on  30th  December,  1895  !  This  set  the  country 
aflame  !  The  Koreans,  who  had  borne  on  the  whole  quietly 
the  ascendency  of  a  hated  power,  the  murder  of  their  Queen, 
and  the  practical  imprisonment  of  their  King,  found  the  at- 
tack on  their  hair  more  than  they  could  stand.  The  topknot 
is  more  to  a  Korean  than  the  queue  is  to  a  Chinese.  The 
queue  to  the  latter  may  be  a  sign  of  subjugation  or  of  loyalty 
to  the  Government  and  that  is  all,  and  the  small  Chinese  boy 
wears  it  as  soon  as  his  hair  is  long  enough  to  plait. 

To  the  Korean  the  Top  Knot  means  nationality,  antiquity 
(some  say  of  five  centuries,  others  of  2,000  years),  sanctity 

359 


360  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

derived  from  antiquity,  entrance  on  manhood  socially  and 
legally,  even  though  he  may  be  a  child  in  years,  the  assump- 
tion of  two  names  by  which  in  addition  to  his  family  name  he 
is  afterwards  known,  and  by  which  he  is  designated  on  the  an- 
cestral tablets,  marriage  is  intimately  bound  up  with  it,  as  is 
ancestral  worship,  and  as  has  been  mentioned  in  the  chapter 
on  marriage,  a  Korean  without  a  Top  Knot,  even  if  in  middle 
life,  can  only  be  treated  as  a  nameless  and  irresponsible  boy. 
In  a  few  cases  a  Korean,  to  escape  from  this  stage  of  disre- 
spect, scrapes  together  enough  to  pay  for  the  Top  Knot  cere- 
monies and  the  mang-kun^  hat,  and  long  coat,  which  are  their 
sequence,  though  he  is  too  poor  to  support  a  family,  but  the 
Top  Knot  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  is  only  as- 
sumed on  marriage,  without  wdiich  the  wearer  has  the  title  of 
**  a  half  man  "  bestowed  on  him  ! 

The  ceremonies  at  the  'Investiture  of  the  Top  Knot"  de- 
serve a  brief  notice  as  among  the  most  important  of  the  singu- 
larities of  the  nation.  When  the  fatlier  and  family  have  de- 
cided that  a  boy  shall  be  "invested,"  which  in  nearly  all 
cases  is  on  the  verge  of  his  marriage,  men's  clothes,  the  hat, 
mang-hifi,  etc.,  are  provided  to  the  limits  of  the  family  purse, 
and  the  astrologers  are  consulted,  who  choose  a  propitious  day 
and  hour  for  the  ceremony,  as  well  as  the  point  of  the  compass 
which  the  chief  actor  is  to  face  during  its  progress.  The  fees 
of  the  regular  astrologer  are  very  high,  and  in  the  case  of  the 
poor,  the  blind  sorcerer  is  usually  called  in  to  decide  on  these 
important  points. 

When  the  auspicious  day  and  hour  arrive  the  family  assem- 
bles, but  as  it  is  a  family  matter  only,  friends  are  not  invited. 
Luck  and  prosperity  and  a  number  of  sons  are  essential  for  the 
Master  of  the  Ceremonies.  If  the  father  has  been  so  blessed 
he  acts  as  such,  if  not,  an  old  friend  who  has  been  more  lucky 
acts  for  him.  The  candidate  for  the  distinction  and  privileges 
of  manhood  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  room,  seated  on 
the  floor,  great  care  being  taken  that  he  faces  the  point  of  the 


The  Halr-cropplng  Edict  361 

compass  which  has  been  designated,  otherwise  he  would  have 
bad  luck  from  that  day  forward.  With  much  ceremony  and 
due  deliberation  the  Master  of  the  Ceremonies  proceeds  to  un- 
wind the  boy's  massive  plait,  shaves  a  circular  spot  three  inches 
in  diameter  on  the  crown  of  his  head,  brings  the  whole  hair 
up  to  this  point,  and  arranges  it  with  strings  into  a  firm  twist 
from  two  and  a  half  to  four  inches  in  length,  which  stands  up 
from  the  head  slightly  forwards  like  a  horn.  The  mang-kiin, 
fillet,  or  crownless  skullcap  of  horsehair  gauze,  coming  well 
down  over  the  brow,  is  then  tied  on,  and  so  tightly  as  to  pro- 
duce a  permanent  groove  in  the  skin,  and  headaches  for  some 
time.  The  hat,  secured  by  its  strings,  is  then  put  on,  and  the 
long  wide  coat,  and  the  boy  rises  up  a  man.^  The  new  man 
bows  to  each  of  his  relations  in  regular  order,  beginning  with 
his  grandfather,  kneeling  and  placing  his  hands,  palms  down- 
ward, on  the  floor,  and  resting  his  forehead  for  a  moment  upon 
them. 

He  then  offers  sacrifices  to  his  deceased  ancestors  before  the 
ancestral  tablets,  lighted  candles  in  high  brass  candlesticks  be- 
ing placed  on  each  side  of  the  bowls  of  sacrificial  food  or  fruit, 
and  bowing  profoundly,  acquaints  them  with  the  important 
fact  that  he  has  assumed  the  Top  Knot.  Afterwards  he  calls 
on  the  adult  male  friends  of  his  family,  who  for  the  first  time 
receive  him  as  an  equal,  and  at  night  there  is  a  feast  in  his 
honor  in  his  father's  house,  to  which  all  the  family  friends  who 
have  attained  to  the  dignity  of  Top  Knots  are  invited. 

The  hat  is  made  of  fine  *' crinoline"  so  that  the  Top  Knot 
may  be  seen  very  plainly  through  it,  and  weighs  only  an  ounce 
and  a  half.  It  is  a  source  of  ceaseless  anxiety  to  the  Korean. 
If  it  gets  wet  it  is  ruined,  so  that  he  seldom  ventures  to  stir 
abroad  without  a  waterproof  cover  for  it  in  his  capacious 
sleeve,  and  it  is  so  easily  broken  and  crushed,  that  when  not 
in  use  it  must  be  kept  or  carried  in  a  wooden  box,  usually 

1  In  chapter  ix.  p.  114,  there  is  a  short  notice  of  what  is  involved  in 
the  transformation. 


362  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

much  decorated,  as  obnoxious  in  transit  as  a  lady's  bandbox. 
The  keeping  on  the  hat  is  a  mark  of  respect.  Court  officials 
appear  in  the  sovereign's  presence  with  their  hats  on,  and  the 
Korean  only  takes  it  off  in  the  company  of  his  most  intimate 
friends.  The  mang-kun  is  a  fixture.  The  Top  Knot  is  often 
decorated  with  a  bead  of  jade,  amber,  or  turquoise,  and  some 
of  the  young  swells  wear  expensive  tortoise-shell  combs  as  its 
ornaments.  There  is  no  other  single  article  of  male  equip- 
ment that  I  am  aware  of  which  plays  so  important  a  part,  or  is 
regarded  with  such  reverence,  or  is  clung  to  so  tenaciously,  as 
the  Korean  Top  Knot. 

On  an  "institution"  so  venerated  and  time-honored, 
and  so  bound  up  with  Korean  nationality  (for  the  Korean, 
though  remarkably  destitute  of  true  patriotism,  has  a  strongly 
national  instinct),  the  decree  of  the  30th  of  December,  1895, 
practically  abolishing  the  Top  Knot,  fell  like  a  thunderbolt. 
The  measure  had  been  advocated  before,  chiefly  by  Koreans 
who  had  been  in  America,  and  was  known  to  have  Japanese 
support,  and  had  been  discussed  by  the  Cabinet,  but  the  change 
was  regarded  with  such  disgust  by  the  nation  at  large  that  the 
Government  was  afraid  to  enforce  it.  Only  a  short  time  before 
the  decree  was  issued,  three  chief  officers  of  the  Kiin-reii-fai 
entered  the  Council  Chamber  with  drawn  swords,  demanding 
the  instantaneous  issue  of  an  edict  making  it  compulsory  on 
every  man  in  Government  employment  to  have  his  hair 
cropped,  and  the  Ministers,  terrified  for  their  lives,  all  yielded 
but  one,  and  he  succeeded  for  the  time  in  getting  the  issue  of 
it  delayed  till  after  the  Queen's  funeral.  Very  shortly  after- 
wards, however,  the  King,  practically  a  prisoner,  was  com- 
pelled to  endorse  it,  and  he,  the  Crown  Prince,  the  Tai-Won- 
Kun,  and  the  Cabinent  were  divested  of  their  Top  Knots,  the 
soldiers  and  police  following  suit. 

The  following  day  the  Official  Gazette  promulgated  a  de- 
cree, endorsed  by  the  King,  announcing  that  he  had  cut  his 
hair  short,  and  calling  on  all  his  subjects,  officials  and  common 


The  Hair-cropping  Edict  363 

people  alike,  to  follow  his  example  and   identify  themselves 
with  the  spirit  of  progress   which  had  induced  His  Majesty 
to  take  this  step,  and  thus  place  his  country  on  a  footing  of 
equality  with  the  other  nations  of  the  world  ! 
The  Home  Office  notifications  were  as  follows : — 

Translation 
The  present  cropping  of  the  hair  being  a  measure  both  advantageous  to 
the  preservation  of  heahh  and  convenient  for  the  transaction  of  business, 
our  sacred  Lord  the  King,  having  in  view  both  administrative  reform  and 
national  aggrandizement,  has,  by  taking  the  lead  in  his  own  person,  set  us 
an  example.  All  the  subjects  of  Great  Korea  should  respectfully  conform 
to  His  Majesty's  purpose,  and  the  fashion  of  their  clothing  should  be  as 
set  forth  below  : — 

1.  During  national  mourning  the  hat  and  clothing  should,  until  the  ex- 
piration of  the  term  of  mourning,  be  white  in  color  as  before. 

2.  The  fillet  {juang-kiui)  should  be  abandoned. 

3.  There  is  no  objection  to  the  adoption  of  foreign  clothing. 

(Signed)  Yu-kil  Chun, 

Acting  Home  Minister. 
nth  moon,  15th  day. 

No.  2 
In  the  Proclamation  which  His  Majesty  graciously  issued  to-day  (nth 
moon,  15th  day)  are  words,  "We,  in  cutting  Our  hair,  are  setting  an  ex- 
ample to  Our  subjects.  Do  you,  the  multitude,  identify  yourselves  with 
Our  design,  and  cause  to  be  accomplished  the  great  work  of  establishing 
equality  with  the  nations  of  the  earth." 

At  a  time  of  reform  such  as  this,  when  we  humbly  peruse  so  spirited  a 
proclamation,  among  all  of  us  subjects  of  Great  Korea  who  does  not 
weep  for  gratitude,  and  strive  his  utmost  ?  Earnestly  united  in  heart  and 
mind,  we  earnestly  expect  a  humble  conformity  with  His  Majesty's  pur- 
poses of  reformation. 

(Signed)  Yu-kil  Chun, 

Acting  Home  Minister. 
504th  year  since  the  founding  of  the  Dynasty, 
nth  moon,  15th  day. 

Among  the  reasons  which  rendered  the  Top  Knot  decree 
detestable  to  the  people  were,  that  priests  and  monks,  who,  in- 
stead of  being  held  in  esteem,   are  regarded  generally  as  a 


364  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

nuisance  to  be  tolerated,  wear  their  hair  closely  cropped,  and 
the  Edict  was  believed  to  be  an  attempt  instigated  by  Japan  to 
compel  Koreans  to  look  like  Japanese,  and  adopt  Japanese 
customs.  So  strong  was  the  popular  belief  that  it  was  to  Japan 
that  Korea  owed  the  denationalizing  order,  that  in  the  many 
places  where  there  were  Top  Knot  Riots  it  was  evidenced  by 
overt  acts  of  hostility  to  the  Japanese,  frequently  resulting  in 
murder. 

The  rural  districts  were  convulsed.  Officials  even  of  the 
highest  rank  found  themselves  on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma.  If 
they  cut  their  hair,  they  were  driven  from  their  lucrative  posts 
by  an  infuriated  populace,  and  in  several  instances  lost  their 
lives,  while  if  they  retained  the  Top  Knot  they  were  dismissed 
by  the  Cabinet.  In  one  province,  on  the  arrival  from  Seoul 
of  a  newly-appointed  mandarin  with  cropped  hair,  he  was 
met  by  a  great  concourse  of  people  ready  for  the  worst,  who 
informed  him  that  they  had  hitherto  been  ruled  by  a  Korean 
man,  and  would  not  endure  a  ''  Monk  Magistrate,'*  on  which 
he  prudently  retired  to  the  capital. 

All  through  the  land  there  were  Top  Knot  complexities  and 
difficulties.  Countrymen,  merchants,  Christian  catechists,  and 
others,  who  had  come  to  Seoul  on  business,  and  had  been 
shorn,  dared  not  risk  their  lives  by  returning  to  their  homes. 
Wood  and  country  produce  did  not  come  in,  and  the  price  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  rose  seriously.  Many  men  who  prized 
the  honor  of  entering  the  Palace  gates  at  the  New  Year  feigned 
illness,  but  were  sent  for  and  denuded  of  their  hair.  The 
click  of  the  shears  was  heard  at  every  gate  in  Seoul,  at  the 
Palace,  and  at  the  official  residences ;  even  servants  were  not 
exempted,  and  some  of  the  Foreign  Representatives  were 
unable  to  present  themselves  at  the  Palace  on  New  Year's 
Day,  because  their  chairmen  were  unwilling  to  meet  the  shears. 
A  father  poisoned  himself  from  grief  and  humiliation  because 
his  two  sons  had  submitted  to  the  decree.  The  foundations 
of  social  order  were  threatened  when  the  Top  Knot  fell  ! 


The  Hair-cropping  Edict  365 

People  who  had  had  their  hair  cropped  did  not  dare  to  ven- 
ture far  from  Seoul  lest  they  should  be  exposed  to  the  violence 
of  the  rural  population.  At  Chun  Chhon,  50  miles  from  the 
capital,  when  the  Governor  tried  to  enforce  the  ordinance,  the 
people  rose  en  masse  and  murdered  him  and  his  whole  estab- 
lishment, afterwards  taking  possession  of  the  town  and  sur- 
rounding country.  As  policemen  with  their  shears  were  at  the 
Seoul  gates  to  enforce  the  decree  on  incomers,  and  peasants 
who  had  been  cropped  on  arriving  did  not  dare  to  return  to 
their  homes,  prices  rose  so  seriously  by  the  middle  of  January, 
1896,  that  "trouble"  in  the  capital  was  expected,  and  an- 
other order  was  issued  that  "  country  folk  were  to  be  let  alone 
at  that  time." 

Things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  till  on  the  nth  of  Febru- 
ary, 1896,  the  whole  Far  East  was  electrified  by  a  sensational 
telegram—''  The  King  of  Korea  has  escaped  from  his  Palace, 
and  is  at  the  Russian  Legation." 

On  that  morning  the  King  and  Crown  Prince  in  the  dim 
daybreak  left  the  Kyeng-pok  Palace  in  closed  box  chairs,  such 
as  are  used  by  the  Palace  waiting-women,  passed  through  the 
gates  without  being  suspected  by  the  sentries,  and  reached  the 
Russian  Legation,  the  King  pale  and  trembling  as  he  entered 
the  spacious  suite  of  apartments  which  for  more  than  a  year 
afterwards  offered  him  a  secure  asylum.  The  Palace  ladies 
who  arranged  the  escape  had  kept  their  counsel  well,  and  had 
caused  a  number  of  chairs  to  go  in  and  out  of  the  gates  early 
and  late  during  the  previous  week,  so  that  the  flight  failed  to 
attract  any  attention.  As  the  King  does  much  of  his  work  at 
night  and  retires  to  rest  in  the  early  morning,  the  ever 
vigilant  Cabinet,  his  jailers,  supposed  him  to  be  asleep,  and 
it  was  not  until  several  hours  later  that  his  whereabouts  became 
known,  when  the  organization  of  a  new  Cabinet  was  pro- 
gressing, and  Korean  dignitaries  began  to  be  summoned  into 
the  Royal  presence. 

The  King,  on  gaining  security,  at  once  reassumed  his  long- 


366  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

lost  prerogatives,  which  have  never  since  been  curbed  in  the 
slightest  degree.  The  irredeemable  Orientalism  of  the  two 
following  proclamations  which  were  posted  over  the  city  within 
a  few  hours  of  his  escape  warrants  their  insertion  in  full : — 


Royal  Proclamation 
Translation 

Alas!  alas!  on  account  of  Our  unworthiness  and  mal-administration 
the  wicked  advanced  and  the  wise  retired.  Of  the  last  ten  years,  none 
has  passed  without  troubles.  Some  were  brought  on  by  those  We  had 
trusted  as  the  members  of  the  body,  while  others,  by  those  of  Our  own 
bone  and  flesh.  Our  dynasty  of  five  centuries  has  thereby  been  often  en- 
dangered, and  milHons  of  Our  subjects  have  thereby  been  gradually  im- 
poverished. These  facts  make  Us  blush  and  sweat  for  shame.  But  these 
troubles  have  been  brought  about  through  Our  partiality  and  self-will, 
giving  rise  to  rascality  and  blunders  leading  to  calamities.  All  have  been 
Our  own  fault  from  the  first  to  the  last. 

Fortunately,  through  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  rising  up  in  righteous 
efforts  to  remove  the  wicked,  there  is  a  hope  that  the  tribulations  experi- 
enced may  invigorate  the  State,  and  that  calm  may  return  after  the  storm. 
This  accords  with  the  principle  that  human  nature  will  have  freedom 
after  a  long  pressure,  and  that  the  ways  of  Heaven  bring  success  after  re- 
verses. We  shall  endeavor  to  be  merciful.  No  pardon,  however,  shall 
be  extended  to  the  principal  traitors  concerned  in  the  afiairs  of  July,  1894, 
and  of  October,  1895.  Capital  punishment  should  be  their  due,  thus 
venting  the  indignation  of  men  and  gods  alike.  But  to  all  the  rest,  offi- 
cials or  soldiers,  citizens  or  coolies,  a  general  amnesty,  free  and  full,  is 
granted,  irrespective  of  the  degree  of  their  offences.  Reform  your  hearts ; 
ease  your  minds ;  go  about  your  business,  public  or  private,  as  in  times 
past. 

As  to  the  cutting  of  the  Top  Knots — what  can  We  say  ?  Is  it  such  an 
urgent  matter  ?  The  traitors,  by  using  force  and  coercion,  brought  about 
the  affair.  That  this  measure  was  taken  against  Our  will  is,  no  doubt, 
well  known  to  all.  Nor  is  it  Our  wish  that  the  conservative  subjects 
throughout  the  country,  moved  to  righteous  indignation,  should  rise  up, 
as  they  have,  circulating  false  rumors,  causing  death  and  injury  to  one  an- 
other, until  the  regular  troops  had  to  be  sent  to  suppress  the  disturbances 
by  force.     The  traitors  indulged   their  poisonous  nature  in  everything. 


The  Hair-cropping  Edict  367 

Fingers  and  hairs  would  fail  to  count  their  crimes.  The  soldiers  are  Our 
children.  So  are  the  insurgents.  Cut  any  of  the  ten  fingers,  and  one 
would  cause  as  much  pain  as  another.  Fighting  long  continued  would 
pour  out  blood  and  heap  up  corpses,  hindering  communications  and  traffic. 
Alas !  if  this  continues  the  people  will  all  die.  The  mere  contemplation 
of  such  consequences  provokes  Our  tears  and  chills  Our  heart.  We  desire 
that  as  soon  as  orders  arrive  the  soldiers  should  return  to  Seoul  and  the 
insurgents  to  their  respective  places  and  occupations. 

As  to  the  cutting  of  Top  Knots,  no  one  shall  be  forced  as  to  dress  and 
hats.  Do  as  you  please.  The  evils  now  afflicting  the  people  shall  be 
duly  attended  to  by  the  Government.  This  is  Our  own  word  of  honor. 
Let  all  understand. 

By  order  of  His  Majesty, 

(Signed)         Pak-chung  Yang, 

Acting  Home  and  Prime  Minister. 

nth  day,  2nd  moon,  ist  year  of  Kon-yang. 

Proclamation  to  the  Soldiers 

On  account  of  the  unhappy  fate  of  Our  country,  traitors  have  made 
trouble  every  year.  Now  We  have  a  document  informing  us  of  another 
conspiracy.  We  have  therefore  come  to  the  Russian  Legation.  The 
Representatives  of  different  countries  have  all  assembled. 

Soldiers!  come  and  protect  us.  You  are  Our  children.  The  troubles 
of  the  past  were  due  to  the  crimes  of  chief  traitors.  You  are  all  par- 
doned, and  shall  not  be  held  answerable.  Do  your  duty  and  be  at  ease. 
When  you  meet  the  chief  traitors,  viz.  Cho-hui  Yen,  Wu-pom  Sun,  Yi-tu 
Hwong,  Yi-pom  Nai,  Yi-chin  Ho,  and  Kon-yong  Chin,  cut  off  their  heads 
at  once,  and  bring  them. 

You  (soldiers)  attend  us  at  the  Russian  Legation. 

nth  day,  2nd  moon,  1st  year  of  Kon-yang. 
Royal  Sign. 

Following  on  this,  on  the  sanie  day,  and  while  thousands  of 
people  were  reading  the  repeal  of  the  hair-cropping  order, 
those  of  the  Cabinet  who  could  be  caught  were  arrested  and 
beheaded  in  the  street — the  Prime  Minister,  who  had  kept  his 
place  in  several  Cabinets,  and  the  Minister  of  Agriculture  and 
Commerce.     The  mob,  infuriated,  and  regarding  the  Premier 


368 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


as  the  author  of  the  downfall  of  the  Top  Knot,  gave  itself  up  to 
unmitigated  savagery,  insulting  and  mutilating  the  dead  bodies 
in  a  manner  absolutely  fiendish.  Another  of  the  Cabinet  was 
rescued  by  Japanese  soldiers,  and  the  other  traitorous  members 
ran  away.  A  Cabinet,  chiefly  new,  was  installed,  prison 
doors  were  opened,  and  the  inmates,  guilty  and  innocent  alike, 
were  released,  strict  orders  were  given  by  the  King  that  the 
Japanese  were  to  be  protected,  one  having  already  fallen  a 
victim  to  the  fury  of  the  populace,  and  before  night  fell  on 
Seoul  much  of  the  work  of  the  previous  six  months  had  been 
undone,  and  the  Top  Knot  had  triumphed. ^ 

How  the  Korean  King,  freed  from  the  strong  influence  of 
the  Queen  and  the  brutal  control  of  his  mutinous  officers, 
used  his  freedom  need  not  be  told  here.  It  was  supposed  just 
after  his  escape  that  he  would  become  "a  mere  tool  in  the 
hands  of  the  Russian  Minister,"  but  so  far  was  this  from  being 
the  case,  that  before  a  year  had  passed  it  was  greatly  desired 
by  many  that  Mr.  VVaeber  would  influence  him  against  the 
bad  in  statecraft  and  in  favor  of  the  good,  and  the  cause  of 
his  determination  not  to  bias  the  King  in  any  way  remains  a 
mystery  to  this  day. 

The  roads  which  led  to  the  Russian  Legation  were  guarded 
by  Korean  soldiers,  but  eighty  Russian  marines  were  quartered 
in  the  compound  and  held  the  gates,  while  a  small  piece  of 
artillery  was  very  much  en  evidence  on  the  terrace  below  the 
King's  windows  !  He  had  an  abundant  entojirage.  For  some 
months  the  Cabinet  occupied  the  ballroom,  and  on  the  terrace 
and  round  the  King's  apartments  there  were  always  numbers 
of  Court  officials  and  servants  of  all  grades,  eunuchs,  Palace 
women,  etc.,  while  the  favorites,  the  ladies  Om  and  Pak,  who 
assisted  in  his  escape,  were  constantly  to  be  seen  in  his 
vicinity. 

Revelling  in  the  cheerfulness  and  security  of  his  surround- 

»When  I  last  saw  the  King  this  national  adornment  seemed  to  have  re- 
sumed its  former  proportions. 


The  Hair-cropping  Edict  369 

ings,  the  King  shortly  built  a  Palace  (to  which  he  removed  in 
the  spring  of  1897),  surrounding  the  tablet-house  of  the  Queen, 
and  actually  in  Chong-dong,  the  European  quarter,  its  grounds 
adjoining  those  of  the  English  and  U.  S.  Legations.  To  the 
security  of  this  tablet-house  the  remains  of  the  Queen,  supposed 
to  consist  only  of  the  bones  of  one  finger,  were  removed  on  a 
lucky  day  chosen  by  the  astrologers  with  much  pomp. 

On  this  occasion  a  guard  of  eighty  Russian  soldiers  occupied 
a  position  close  to  the  Royal  tent,  not  far  from  one  in  which 
the  Foreign  Representatives,  with  the  noteworthy  exception  of 
the  Japanese  Envoy,  were  assembled.  Rolled-up  scroll  por- 
traits of  the  five  immediate  ancestors  of  the  King,  each  en- 
closed in  a  large  oblong  palanquin  of  gilded  fretwork,  and  pre- 
ceded by  a  crowd  of  officials  in  old  Court  costume,  filed  past 
the  Royal  tent,  where  the  King  did  obeisance,  and  the  Rus- 
sian Guard  presented  arms.  This  was  only  the  first  part  of 
the  ceremony. 

Later  a  colossal  catafalque,  containing  the  fragmentary  re- 
mains of  the  murdered  Queen,  was  dragged  through  the  streets 
from  the  Kyeng-pok  Palace  by  700  men  in  sackcloth,  preceded 
and  followed  by  a  crowd  of  Court  functionaries,  also  in  mourn- 
ing, and  escorted  by  Korean  drilled  troops.  The  King  and 
Crown  Prince  received  the  procession  at  the  gate  of  the  new 
Kyeng-wun  Palace,  and  the  hearse,  after  being  hauled  up  to  the 
end  of  a  long  platform  outside  the  Spirit  Shrine,  was  tracked 
by  ropes  (for  no  hand  might  touch  it)  to  the  interior,  where  it 
rested  under  a  canopy  of  white  silk,  and  for  more  than  a  year 
received  the  customary  rites  and  sacrifices  from  the  bereaved 
husband  and  son.  The  large  crowd  in  the  streets  was  orderly 
and  silent.  The  ceremony  was  remarkable  both  for  the  re- 
vival of  picturesque  detail  and  of  practices  which  it  was  sup- 
posed had  become  obsolete,  such  as  the  supporting  of  officials 
on  their  ponies  by  retainers,  or  when  on  foot  by  having  their 
arms  propped  up. 

In  July,  1896,  Mr.  J.  M'Leavy  Brown,  LL.D.,  Chief  Com- 


370  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

missioner  of  Customs,  received  by  Royal  decree  the  absolute 
control  of  all  payments  out  of  the  Treasury,  and  having  gained 
considerable  insight  into  the  complexities  of  financial  corrup- 
tion, addressed  himself  in  earnest  to  the  reform  of  abuses,  and 
with  most  beneficial  results. 

In  September  a  Council  of  State  of  fourteen  members  was 
substitued  for  the  Cabinet  of  Ministers  organized  under  Japa- 
nese auspices,  a  change  which  was  to  some  extent  a  return  to 
old  methods. 

Many  of  the  attempts  made  by  the  Japanese  during  their  as- 
cendency to  reform  abuses  were  allowed  to  lapse.  The  country 
was  unsettled,  a  "Righteous  Army  "  having  replaced  the  Tong- 
haks.  The  Minister  of  the  Household  and  other  Royal  favor- 
ites resumed  the  practice  of  selling  provincial  and  other  posts 
in  a  most  unblushing  manner  after  the  slight  checks  which  had 
been  imposed  on  this  most  deleterious  custom,  and  the  sover- 
eign himself,  whose  Civil  List  is  ample,  appropriated  public 
moneys  for  his  own  purposes,  while,  finding  himself  person- 
ally safe,  and  free  from  Japanese  or  other  control,  he  reverted 
in  many  ways  to  the  traditions  of  his  dynasty,  and  in  spite  of 
attempted  checks  upon  his  authority,  reigned  as  an  absolute 
monarch — his  edicts  law,  his  will  absolute.  Meanwhile  Japan 
was  gradually  effacing  herself  or  being  effaced,  and  whatever 
influence  she  lost  in  Korea,  Russia  gained,  but  the  advantages 
of  the  change  were  not  obvious. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

THE  REORGANIZED  KOREAN  GOVERNMENT^ 

THE  old  system  of  Government  in  Korea,  which,  with  but 
a  few  alterations  and  additions,  prevailed  from  the  found- 
ing of  the  present  dynasty  until  the  second  half  of  1894,  was 
modelled  on  that  of  the  Ming  Emperors  of  China.  The  King 
was  absolute  as  well  in  practice  as  in  theory,  but  to  assist  him 
in  governing  there  was  a  Eut-chyeng  Fii,  commonly  translated 
Cabinet,  composed  of  a  so-called  Premier,  and  Senior  and 
Junior  Ministers  of  State,  under  whom  were  Senior  and  Junior 
Chief  Secretaries,  and  Senior  and  Junior  Assistant  Secretaries, 
with  certain  minor  functionaries,  the  Government  being  con- 
ducted through  Boards  as  in  China,  viz.  Civil  Office,  Revenue, 
Ceremonies,  War,  Punishment,  and  Works,  to  which  were 
added  after  the  opening  of  the  country  to  foreigners.  Foreign 
and  Home  Offices.  During  the  present  reign  the  Home  Office, 
under  the  Presidency  of  a  powerful  and  ambitious  cousin  of 
the  Queen,  Min  Yeng-chyun,  began  to  draw  to  itself  all  ad- 
ministrative power,  while  Her  Majesty's  and  his  relations,  who 
occupied  the  chief  positions  throughout  the  country,  fleeced 
the  people  without  restraint.     Of  the  remaining  offices  which 

1  The  chapters  on  the  Reorganized  Korean  Government — Education, 
Trade,  and  Finance— and  Dtemonism  are  intended  to  aid  in  the  intelli- 
gent understanding  of  those  which  precede  them.  The  reader  who  wishes 
to  go  into  the  subject  of  the  old  and  the  reorganized  systems  of  Korean 
Government  will  find  a  mass  of  curious  and  deeply  interesting  detail  in  a 
volume  entitled,  Korean  Government,  by  W.  H.  Wilkinson,  Esq.,  lately 
H.B.M.'s  Acting  Vice-Consul  at  Chemulpo,  published  by  the  Statistical 
Department  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  at  Shanghai  in 
March,  1897.     To  it  I  am  very  greatly  indebted. 

371 


37^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

were  seated  in  the  Metropolis  the  chief  were  the  Correctional 
Tribunal,  an  office  of  the  first  rank  which  took  cognizance  of 
the  offences  of  officials,  and  the  Prefecture  of  Seoul  which  had 
charge  of  all  municipal  matters. 

Korea  was  divided  into  eight  Provinces,  each  under  the  con- 
trol of  a  Governor,  aided  by  a  Civil  and  Military  Secretary. 
Magistrates  of  different  grades  according  to  the  size  of  the 
magistracies  were  appointed  under  him,  five  fortress  cities, 
however,  being  independent  of  provincial  jurisdiction.  The 
principal  tax,  the  land-tax,  was  paid  in  kind,  and  the  local 
governments  had  very  considerable  control  over  the  local  rev- 
enues. There  were  provincial  military  and  naval  forces  with 
large  staffs  of  officers,  and  Boards,  Offices,  and  Departments 
innumeral  under  Government,  each  with  its  legion  of  super- 
numeraries. 

The  country  was  eaten  up  by  officialism.  It  is  not  only  that 
abuses  without  number  prevailed,  but  the  whole  system  of 
Government  was  an  abuse,  a  sea  of  corruption  without  a  bot- 
tom or  a  shore,  an  engine  of  robbery,  crushing  the  life  out  of 
all  industry.  Offices  and  justice  were  bought  and  sold  like 
other  commodities,  and  Government  was  fast  decaying,  the 
one  principle  which  survived  being  its  right  to  prey  on  the 
governed. 

The  new  order  of  things,  called  by  the  Japanese  the  "Ref- 
ormation," dates  from  the  forcible  occupation  of  the  Kyeng- 
pok  Palace  by  Japanese  troops  on  the  23rd  of  July,  1894. 
The  constitutional  changes  which  have  subsequently  been  pro- 
mulgated (though  not  always  carried  out)  were  initiated  by 
the  Japanese  Minister  in  Seoul,  and  reduced  to  detail  by  the 
Japanese  "advisers"  who  shortly  arrived;  and  Japan  is  en- 
titled to  the  credit  of  having  attempted  to  cope  with  and  rem- 
edy the  manifold  abuses  of  the  Korean  system,  and  of  having 
bequeathed  to  the  country  the  lines  on  which  reforms  are  now 
being  carried  out.     It  was  natural,  and  is  certainly  not  blame- 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    373 

worthy,  that  the  Japanese  had  in  view  the  assimilation  of  Ko- 
rean polity  to  that  of  Japan. 

To  bring  about  the  desired  reorganization,  Mr.  Otori,  at 
that  time  the  Japanese  Minister,  induced  the  King  to  create 
an  Assembly,  which,  whatever  its  ultimate  destiny,  was  to 
form  meanwhile  a  Department  for  "  the  discussion  of  all  mat- 
ters grave  and  trivial  within  the  realm."  The  Prime  Minister 
was  its  President,  and  the  number  of  its  members  was  limited 
to  twenty  Councillors.  A  noteworthy  feature  in  connection 
with  it  was  that  it  invited  suggestions  from  outsiders  in  the 
form  of  written  memoranda. 

It  met  for  the  first  time  on  the  30th  of  July,  1894,  and  for 
the  last  on  the  29th  of  October  of  the  same  year.  It  was 
found  impossible,  either  by  payment  or  Royal  orders,  to  secure 
a  quorum  ;  and  after  the  Vice-Minister  of  Justice,  one  of  the 
few  Councillors  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings, 
was  murdered  two  days  after  the  last  meeting,  as  was  believed, 
by  an  agent  of  the  reactionary  party,  it  practically  expired, 
and  was  dissolved  by  Royal  Decree  on  the  17th  of  December, 
1894,  and  a  reconstituted  Privy  Council  took  its  place.  Those 
of  its  Resolutions,  however,  which  had  received  the  Royal  as- 
sent became  law,  and  unless  repealed  or  superseded  are  still 
binding. 

These  Resolutions  appeared  in  the  Goveriiment  Gazette,  an 
institution  of  very  old  standing,  imitated,  like  most  things  else, 
from  China.  This  was  prepared  by  the  Court  of  Transmis- 
sion, a  Palace  Department,  the  senior  members  of  which 
formed  the  channel  of  communication  between  the  King  and 
the  official  body  at  large,  and  who,  while  other  high  officials 
could  only  reach  the  throne  by  means  of  personal  memorials 
or  written  memoranda,  were  privileged  to  address  the  King 
viva  voce,  and  through  whom  as  a  rule  his  commands  were 
issued.  Each  day  this  Department  collected  the  various  mem- 
oranda and  memorials,  the  Royal  replies  and  the  lists  of  ap- 
pointments, copies  of  which   when  edited  by  it  formed  the 


374  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Gazette,  which  was  furnished  in  MS.  to  officials  throughout 
the  kingdonfi.  The  Royal  Edicts  when  published  in  this  paper 
became  law  in  Korea. 

In  July,  1894,  Mr.  Otori  made  the  useful  innovation  of  pub- 
lishing the  Gazette  in  clear  type,  and  in  the  following  January 
it  appeared  in  a  mixture  of  Chinese  hieroglyphs  and  En-mititf 
the  "vulgar  script"  of  Korea,  and  became  intelligible  to  the 
common  people.  No  special  change  was  made  at  that  time, 
except  that  the  Resolutions  of  the  Deliberative  Assembly  were 
included  in  it.  Later  clianges  have  assimilated  it  farther  to 
the  Government  Gazette  of  Japan,  and  it  has  gained  rather 
than  lost  in  importance.  Gradually  a  diminution  of  tlie  power 
of  the  Court  of  Transmission  began  to  show  itself.  Its  name 
was  changed  to  the  Receiving  Office,  and  members  of  the 
Cabinet  and  the  Correctional  Tribunal  began  to  enjoy  direct 
access  to  the  King.  In  April,  1895,  a  farther  change  in  a 
Japanese  direction,  and  one  of  great  significance  in  Korean 
estimation,  was  made,  the  date  of  the  Gazette  being  given 
thus : — 

"No.  I. — 504th  year  of  the  Dynasty,  4th  moon,  ist  day, 
Wood-day."^ 

Two  months  later  farther  changes  in  the  official  Gazette 
were  announced,  and  the  programme  then  put  forward  has 
been  adhered  to,  paving  the  way  for  many  of  the  changes 
which  have  followed.  It  is  difficult  to  make  the  importance 
of  the  Gazette  intelligible,  except  to  foreigners  who  have  re- 
sided in  China  and  Korea.  The  reason  for  dwelling  so  long 
upon  it  is,  that  for  several  centuries  the  publication  in  it  of 
Royal  Edicts  has  given  them  the  force  of  law  and  the  cur- 
rency of  Acts  of  Parliament. 

In  the  pages  which  follow  a  brief  summary  is  given  of  the 
outlines  of  the  scheme  for  the  reorganization  of  the  Korean 

'  Wood-day  is  the  term  adopted  by  the  Japanese  for  Thursday,  their 
week,  which  has  now  been  imposed  on  the  Koreans,  being  Sun-day, 
Moon-day,  Fire-day,  Water-day,  Wood-day,  Metal-day,  and  Earth-day. 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    375 

Government,  which  was  prepared  for  the  most  part  by  the 
Japanese  advisers,  honorary  and  salaried,  who  have  been  en- 
gaged on  the  task  since  1894,  and  which  has  been  accepted 
by  the  King. 

The  first  change  raised  the  status  of  the  King  and  the  Royal 
Family  to  that  of  the  Imperial  Family  of  China.  After  this, 
it  was  enacted,  following  on  the  King's  Oath  of  January, 
1895,  that  the  Queen  and  Royal  Family  were  no  longer  to 
interfere  in  the  affairs  of  State,  and  that  His  Majesty  would 
govern  by  the  advice  of  a  Cabinet,  and  sign  all  ordinances  to 
which  his  assent  is  given.  The  Cabinet,  which  was,  at  least 
nominally,  located  in  the  Palace,  had  two  aspects — a  Council 
of  State,  and  a  State  Department,  presided  over  by  the 
Premier. 

I. — As  THE  Council  of  State 

The  members  of  the  Cabinet  or  Ministers  of  State  were  the 
Premier,  the  Home  Minister,  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
the  Finance  Minister,  the  War  Minister,  the  Minister  of  Edu- 
cation, the  Minister  of  Justice,  and  the  Minister  of  Agricul- 
ture, Trade  and  Industry.  A  Foreign  Adviser  is  supposed  to 
be  attached  to  each  of  the  seven  Departments. 

Ministers  in  Council  were  empowered  to  consider — the 
framing  of  laws  and  ordinances  ;  estimates  and  balance-sheets 
of  yearly  revenue  and  expenditure ;  public  debt,  domestic  and 
foreign ;  international  treaties  and  important  conventions ; 
disputes  as  to  the  respective  jurisdictions  of  Ministers;  such 
personal  memorials  as  His  Majesty  might  send  down  to  them ; 
supplies  not  included  in  the  estimates ;  appointments  and  pro- 
motions of  high  officials,  other  than  legal  or  military ;  the  re- 
tention, abolition,  or  alteration  of  old  customs;  abolition 
or  institution  of  offices,  and,  without  reference  to  their 
special  relations  to  any  one  Ministry,  their  reconstruction  or 
amendment;  the  imposition  of  new  taxes  or  their  alteration ; 
and   the  control  and   management  of   public  lands,   forests, 


37^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

buildings,  and  vessels.  All  ordinances  after  being  signed  and 
sealed  by  the  King  required  the  countersign  of  the  Premier. 

The  second  function  of  the  Cabinet  as  a  Department  of 
State  it  is  needless  to  go  into. 

A  Privy  Council  was  established  at  the  close  of  1894  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Deliberative  Assembly  which  had  col- 
lapsed, and  is  now  empowered,  when  consulted  by  the  Cabinet, 
to  inquire  into  and  pass  resolutions  concerning : — 

I.  The  framing  of  laws  and  ordinances. 

II.  Questions  which  may  from  time  to  time  be  referred  to  it 
by  the  Cabinet. 

The  Council  consists  of  a  President,  Vice-President,  not 
more  than  fifty  Councillors,  two  Secretaries,  and  four  Clerks. 
The  Councillors  are  appointed  by  the  Crown  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Premier,  and  must  either  be  men  of  rank, 
or  those  who  have  done  good  service  to  the  State,  or  are  ex- 
perts in  politics,  law,  or  economics.  The  Privy  Council  is 
prohibited  from  having  any  correspondence  on  public  matters 
with  private  individuals,  or  with  any  officials  but  Ministers  and 
Vice-Ministers.  The  President  presides.  Two-thirds  of  the 
members  must  be  present  to  form  a  quorum.  Votes  are  given 
openly,  resolutions  are  carried  by  a  majority,  and  any  Council- 
lor dissenting  from  a  resolution  so  carried  has  a  right  to  have 
his  reasons  recorded  in  the  minutes. 

In  the  autumn  of  1896  some  important  changes  were  made. 
A  Decree  of  the  24th  of  September  condemned  in  strong  lan- 
guage the  action  of  "  disorderly  rebels,  who  some  three  years 
ago  revolutionized  the  Constitution,"  and  changed  the  name 
of  the  King's  advising  body.  The  decree  ordained  that  the 
old  name,  translated  Council  of  State,  ''should  be  restored, 
and  declared  that  new  regulations  would  be  issued,  which, 
while  adhering  to  ancient  principles,  would  confirm  such  of 
the  enactments  of  the  previous  three  years  as  in  the  King's 
judgment  were  for  the  public  good."  The  Council  of  State 
was  organized  by  the  first  ordinance  of  a  new  series,  and  the 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    377 

preamble,  as  well  as  one  at  least  of  the  sections,  marks  a  dis- 
tinctly retrograde  movement  and  a  reversion  to  the  absolutism 
renounced  in  the  King's  Oath  of  January,  1895.^  It  is  dis- 
tinctly stated  that  "  any  motion  debated  at  the  Council  may  re- 
ceive His  Majesty's  assent,  without  regard  to  the  number  of 
votes  in  its  favor,  by  virtue  of  the  Royal  prerogative;  or 
should  the  debates  on  any  motion  not  accord  with  His  Ma- 
jesty's views,  the  Council  may  be  commanded  to  reconsider 
the  matter."  Resolutions  which  the  King  approves,  on  pub- 
lication in  the  Gazette^  become  law. 

Thus  perished  the  checks  which  the  Japanese  sought  to 
impose  on  the  absolutism  of  the  Crown,  and  at  the  present 
time  the  Royal  will  (or  whim)  can  and  does  override  all  else. 

This  Eui-chyeng  Pu  or  Council,  like  the  Nai  Kak,  its  pred- 
ecessor, is  both  a  Council  of  State,  and  a  State  Department 
presided  over  by  the  Chancellor.  The  members  of  the 
Council  of  State  are  the  Chancellor,  the  Home  Minister,  who 
is,  ex  officio,  Vice-chancellor,  the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
Finance,  War,  Justice,  and  Agriculture,  five  Councillors,  and 
the  Chief  Secretary.  As  a  State  Department  under  the  Chan- 
cellor, the  staff  consists  of  the  "Director  of  the  General 
Bureau,"  the  Chancellor's  Private  Secretary,  the  Secretary, 
and  eight  clerks. 

The  Council  of  State,  as  now  constituted,  is  empowered,  to 
pass  resolutions  concerning  the  enactment,  abrogation,  altera- 
tion, or  interpretation  of  laws  or  regulations ;  peace  and  war 
and  the  making  of  treaties ;  restoration  of  domestic  order ; 
telegraphs,  railways,  mines,  and  other  undertakings,  and  ques- 
tions of  compensation  arising  therefrom  ;  the  estimates  and 
special  appropriations  ;  taxes,  duties,  and  excise  ;  matters  sent 
down  to  the  Council  by  special  command  of  the  Sovereign ; 
publication  of  laws  and  regulations  approved  by  the  King. 

The  King,  if  he  so  pleases,  is  present  in  person,  or  may 
send  the  Heir-Apparent  to  represent  him.      The  Chancellor 
'  See  p.  250. 


378  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

presides,  two-thirds  of  the  members  from  a  quorum,  motions 
are  carried  by  a  numerical  majority,  and  finally  a  memorial 
stating  in  outline  the  debate  and  its  issue  is  submitted  by  the 
Chancellor  to  the  King,  who  issues  such  commands  as  may 
seem  to  him  best,  for,  as  previously  stated,  His  Majesty  is  not 
bound  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  majority. 

The  Eui-chyejig  Pii  as  a  Department  of  State  through  the 
*' Director  of  the  General  Bureau"  has  three  sections — 
Archives,  Gazette,  and  Accounts,  and  is  rather  a  recording 
than  an  initiating  office. 

The  scheme  for  the  reconstruction  of  the  Provincial  and 
Metropolitan  Governments  has  introduced  many  important 
changes  and  retrenchments.  The  thirteen  Provinces  are  now 
divided  into  339  Prefectures,  Seoul  having  a  Government  of  its 
own.  The  vast  entourage  of  provincial  authorities  has  been 
reduced,  and  a  Provincial  Governor's  staff  is  now  limited, 
nominally  at  least,  to  six  clerks,  two  chief  constables,  thirty 
police,  ten  writers,  four  ushers,  fifteen  messengers,  eight 
coolies,  and  eight  boys.  Ordinances  under  the  head  of  "  Local 
Government"  define  the  jurisdiction,  powers,  duties,  period 
of  office,  salaries,  and  etiquette^  of  all  officials,  along  with 

1  Official  Intercourse.  Ord,  45  amends  some  old  practices  regulating 
the  intercourse  and  correspondence  of  officials.  The  etiquette  of  the 
official  call  by  a  newly  appointed  Prefect  on  the  Governor,  on  the  whole, 
is  retained,  although  it  is  in  some  respects  simplified.  The  old  fashion 
obliged  the  Magistrate  to  remain  outside  the  yanien  gate,  while  a  large 
folded  sheet  of  white  paper  inscribed  with  his  name,  was  sent  in  to  the 
Governor.  The  latter  thereupon  gave  orders  to  his  personal  attendants  or 
ushers  to  admit  the  Magistrate.  The  i'oin,  as  they  were  commonly  styled, 
called  out  "  Sa-ryfeng,'"  to  which  the  servants  chanted  a  reply.  The  Gov- 
ernor being  seated,  the  Magistrate  knelt  outside  the  room  and  bowed  to 
the  ground.  To  this  obeisance  the  Governor  replied  by  raising  his  arms 
over  his  head.  The  Magistrate  was  asked  his  name  and  age,  given  some 
stereotyped  advice,  and  dismissed.  The  Governor  is  for  the  future  to  re- 
turn the  bow  of  the  Prefect,  and  conversation  is  to  be  conducted  in  terms 
of  mutual  respect,  the  Magistrate  describing  himself  as  ha-koan  ("  your 
subordinate  "),  and  addressing  the  Governor  by  his  title. 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    379 

many  minor  matters.  It  is  in  this  Department  that  the  re- 
forms instituted  by  the  Japanese  are  the  most  sweeping.  Very 
many  offices  were  abolished,  and  all  Govermiient  property  be- 
longing to  the  establishments  of  the  officials  holding  them 
was  ordered  to  be  handed  over  to  officers  of  the  new  regime. 
A  Local  Government  Bureau  was  established  with  sections, 
under  which  local  finance  in  cities  and  towns  and  local  ex- 
penditure of  every  kind  were  to  be  dealt  with.  An  Engineer- 
ing Bureau  dealing  with  civil  engineering  and  a  Land  Survey, 
a  Registration  Bureau  dealing  with  an  annual  census  of  the 
population  and  the  registration  of  lands,  a  Sanitary  Bureau, 
and  an  Accounts  Bureau  form  part  of  the  very  ambitious  Local 
Government  scheme,  admirable  on  paper,  and  which,  if  it 
were  honestly  carried  out,  would  strike  at  the  roots  of  many  of 
the  abuses  which  are  the  curse  of  Korea.  The  whole  pro- 
vincial system  as  reorganized  is  under  the  Home  Office. 

An  important  part  of  the  new  scheme  is  the  definition  of  the 
duties  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Ministers  of  State.  The  Cabinet 
Orders  dealing  with  the  duties  and  discipline  of  officials  at 
large  so  far  issued  are  : — 

Order  I.  General  rules  for  the  conduct  of  public  business. 

"      2.  Memorabilia  for  officials. 

"      3,  Resumption  of  office  after  mourning. 

«'      4.  Reprimand  and  correction. 

"      5.  Obligation  to  purchase  the  Gazette. 

"      6.  Memorials  to  be  on  ruled  paper. 

The  management  of  public  offices  under  the  new  system  is 
practically  the  same  as  the  Japanese. 

The  Memorabilia  for  Officials  are  as  follows:  — 

(a^  No  official  must  trespass  outside  his  own  jurisdiction. 

(J)')  Where  duties  have  been  deputed  to  a  subordinate,  the  latter  must 
not  be  continually  interfered  with. 

(r)  A  subordinate  ordered  to  do  anything  which  in  his  opinion  is  ir- 
regular or  irrelevant  slwuld  expostulate  with  his  senior.  If  the  latter 
holds  by  his  opinion,  the  junior  must  conform. 


380  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

{d)  Officials  must  be  straightforward  and  outspoken,  and  not  give  out- 
ward acquiescence  while  privately  criticising  or  hindering  th^ir  superiors. 

(^)  Officials  must  not  listen  to  suggestions  from  outsiders  or  talk  with 
them  on  official  business. 

(/)  Officials  must  be  frank  with  one  another,  and  not  form  cliques. 

{g)  No  official  must  wilfully  spread  false  rumors  about  another  or 
lightly  credit  such. 

{h)  No  official  must  absent  himself  from  office  without  permission  dur- 
ing office  hours,  or  frequent  the  houses  of  others. 

Resolution  88,  passed  some  months  earlier,  was  even  more 
explicit :  — 

Officials  are  thereby  forbidden  to  divulge  official  secrets  even  when  wit- 
nesses in  a  court  of  law,  unless  specially  permitted  to  do  so ;  or  to  show 
despatches  to  outsiders.  They  are  not  allowed  to  become  directors  or 
managers  in  a  public  company ;  to  accept  compensation  from  private  in- 
dividuals or  gifts  from  their  subordinates;  to  undertake,  without  permis- 
sion, extra  work  for  payment ;  or  to  put  to  private  use  Government  horses. 
They  may  receive  honors  or  presents  from  foreign  Sovereigns  or  Govern- 
ments only  with  the  special  sanction  of  His  Majesty. 

An  ordinance  restored  the  use  of  the  uniforms  worn  prior  to 
the  **  Reformation,"  whether  Court  dress,  full  dress,  half- 
dress,  or  undress,  and  announced  that  neither  officials  nor 
private  persons  were  to  be  compelled  any  longer  to  wear  black. 

Each  Department  is  presided  over  by  a  Minister,  who  is  em- 
powered to  issue  Departmental  Orders,  as  Instructions  to  the 
local  officials  and  police,  and  Notifications  to  the  people.  His 
jurisdiction  over  the  police  and  local  officials  is  concurrent 
with  that  of  his  colleagues,  who  must  also  be  consulted  by 
him  before  recommending  to  the  Throne  the  promotion  or 
degradation  of  the  higher  officials  of  his  Departmental  Staff. 

Under  the  Minister  is  a  Vice-Minister,  empowered  to  act  for 
him  on  occasion,  and,  when  doing  so,  possessing  equal  privi- 
leges. The  Vice-Minister  is  usually  the  head  of  the  Minister's 
Secretariat,  which  deals  with  '^  confidential  matters,  promo- 
tions, custody  of  the  Minister's  and  Departmental  Seals,  receipt 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    381 

and  despatch  of  correspondence,  and  consultation  of  prec- 
edents, preparation  of  statistics,  compilation  and  preservation 
of  archives." 

In  addition  to  the  Secretariats,  there  are  a  number  of  Bureaux, 
both  Secretariats  and  Bureaux  being,  for  convenience,  subdi- 
vided into  sections,  each  of  which  has  its  special  duties. 

The  Departments  of  Government  are  as  follows : — 

Home  Office 
The  Home  Minister  has  charge  of  matters  concerning  local 
government,  police,  jails,  civil  engineering,  sanitation,  shrines 
and  temples,  surveying,  printing  census,  and  public  charity,  as 
well  as  the  general  supervision  of  the  local  authorities  and  the 
police. 

Foreign  Office 
The  Foreign  Minister  is  vested  with  the  control  of  inter- 
national affairs,  the  protection  of  Korean  commercial  interests 
abroad,  and  the  supervision  of  the  Diplomatic  and  Consular 
Services. 

The  Treasury 

*'  The  Minister  for  Finance,  being  vested  with  the  control 
of  the  finances  of  the  Government,  will  have  charge  of  all 
matters  relating  to  accounts,  revenue,  and  expenditure,  taxes, 
national  debts,  the  currency,  banks,  and  the  like,  and  will 
have  supervision  over  the  finances  of  each  local  administra- 
tion "  (Ord.  54,  §  i). 

Under  this  Minister  there  is  a  Taxation  Bureau  with  three 
sections — Land  Tax,  Excise,  and  Customs.^     The  ordinances 

1  The  finances  of  Korea  are  now  practically  under  British  management, 
Mr.  J.  M'Leavy  Brown,  LL.  D,,  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Maritime  Cus- 
toms, and  Chief  Commissioner  of  Customs  for  Korea,  having  undertaken 
in  addition  the  post  of  Financial  Adviser  to  the  Treasury,  and  a  Royal 
Edict  having  been  issued  that  every  order  for  a  payment  out  of  the  na- 
tional purse,  down  to  the  smallest,  should  be  countersigned  by  him. 


382  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

connected  with  the  remodelled  system  of  taxation  and  the 
salaries  and  expenses  of  officials  are  very  numerous  and  minute. 
The  appropriation  actually  in  money  for  the  Sovereign's  Privy 
Purse  was  fixed  at  ;^5oo,ooo. 

War  Office 

The  Minister  for  War,  who  must  be  a  general  officer,  has 
charge  of  the  military  administration  of  an  army  lately  fixed 
at  6,000  men,  and  the  chief  control  of  men  and  matters  in 
the  army,  and  is  to  exercise  supervision  over  army  divisions, 
and  all  buildings  and  forts  under  his  Department.  The  new 
military  arrangements  are  very  elaborate. 

Ministry  of  Education 

In  this  important  Department,  besides  the  Minister  and 
Vice-Minister  and  heads  of  Bureaux  and  Sections,  there  are 
three  special  Secretaries  who  act  as  Inspectors  of  Schools,  and 
an  official  specially  deputed  to  compile  and  select  text-books. 

Besides  the  Minister's  Secretariat,  there  are  the  Education 
Bureau,  which  is  concerned  with  primary,  normal,  intermedi- 
ary, foreign  language,  technical  and  industrial  schools,  and 
students  abroad ;  and  a  Compilation  Bureau,  concerned  with 
the  selection,  translation,  and  compilation  of  text-books;  the 
purchase,  preservation,  and  arrangement  of  volumes,  and  the 
printing  of  books. 

Under  this  Department  has  been  placed  the  Confucian  Col- 
lege, an  institution  of  the  old  regime,  the  purpose  of  which 
was  to  attend  to  the  Temple  of  Literature,  in  which,  as  in 
China,  the  Memorial  Tablets  of  Confucius,  Mencius,  and  the 
Sages  are  honored,  and  to  encourage  the  study  of  the  classical 
books.  The  subjects  for  study  are  the  ''Three  Classics," 
"Four  Books  and  Popular  Commentary,"  Chinese  Compo- 
sition, Outlines  of  Chinese  History — of  the  Sung,  Yiian,  and 
Ming  Dynasties.  To  meet  the  reformed  requirements,  this 
College  has  been  reorganized,  and  the  students,  who  must  be 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    383 

between  the  ages  of  twenty  and  forty,  *'of  good  character, 
persevering,  intelligent,  and  well  acquainted  with  affairs,"  are 
in  addition  put  through  a  course  of  Korean  and  foreign  an- 
nals, Korean  and  foreign  geography,  and  arithmetic. 

Ministry  of  Justice 

The  Minister  of  Justice  has  charge  of  judicial  matters,  par- 
dons and  restorations  to  rank,  instructions  for  public  prosecu- 
tion, and  supervision  over  Special  Courts,  High  Courts,  and 
District  Courts ;  and  the  Department  forms  a  High  Court  of 
Justice  for  the  hearing  of  certain  appeals. 

Ministry   of  Agriculture,  Trade,  and  Industry 

The  Minister  of  Agriculture  has  charge  of  all  matters  re- 
lating to  agriculture,  commerce,  industries,  posts,  telegraphs, 
shipping,  and  marine  officers. 

In  this  Department,  besides  the  Minister's  Secretariat,  there 
are  Bureaux  of  Agriculture,  Communications,  Trade,  In- 
dustry, Mining,  and  Accounts.  The  Bureau  of  Agriculture 
contains  Agricultural,  Forest,  and  Natural  Products  sections ; 
that  of  Communications,  Post,  Telegraph,  and  Marine  sec- 
tions ;  and  that  of  Trade  and  Industry  deals  with  Commerce, 
Trading  Corporations,  Weights  and  Measures,  Manufactures, 
and  Factories.  The  Mining  Bureau  has  sections  for  Mines 
and  Geology,  and  the  Bureau  of  Accounts  deals  with  the  in- 
ventories and  expenditure  of  the  Department. 

The  Village  System 

Besides  the  Reorganization  of  these  important  Departments 
of  State,  a  design  for  a  ''Village  System,"  organized  as  fol- 
lows, is  to  supersede  that  which  had  decayed  with  the  general 
decay  of  Government  in  Korea. 

The  country  is  now  divided  into  districts  {Kun),  each  Kim 
containing  a  number  of  ?}iyen  or  cantons,  each  of  which  in- 
cludes a  number  of  tti  or  villages.     The  old  posts  and  titles  are 


384  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

abolished,  and  each  village  is  now  to  be  provided  with  the  fol- 
lowing officers : — 

1.  Headman. — He  must  be  over  thirty  years  of  age,  and 
is  elected  for  one  year  by  the  householders.  The  office  is 
honorary. 

2.  Clerk. — He  holds  office  under  the  same  conditions  as 
the  Headman,  under  whom  he  keeps  the  books  and  issues 
notices. 

3.  Elder. — Nominated  by  the  householders,  he  acts  for  the 
Headman  as  occasion  demands. 

4.  Bailiff. — Elected  at  the  same  time  as  the  Headman  he 
performs  the  usual  duties  of  a  servant  or  messenger,  and  holds 
office  for  a  year  on  good  behavior. 

The  corresponding  officers  of  the  canton  (commune)  are  a 
Mayor f  a  Clerky  a  Bailiff,  and  a  Communal  Usher  who  is  ir- 
removable except  for  cause  given,  and  is,  like  the  other  offi- 
cials, elected  by  the  canton. 

A  Village  Council  is  composed  of  the  Headman  and  one 
man  from  each  family,  and  is  empowered  to  pass  resolutions 
on  matters  connected  with  education,  registration  of  house- 
holds or  lands,  sanitation,  roads  and  bridges,  communal  grain 
exchanges,  agricultural  improvements,  common  woods  and 
dykes,  payment  of  taxes,  relief  in  famine  or  other  calamity, 
adjustment  of  the  corvee,  savings  associations,  and  by-laws. 
The  Headman,  who  acts  as  chairman,  has  not  only  a  casting 
vote,  but  the  power  to  veto.  A  resolution  passed  over  the  veto 
of  the  Headman  has  to  be  referred  to  the  Mayor,  and  over  the 
veto  of  the  Mayor  to  the  Prefect.  If  passed  twice  over  the 
veto  of  the  Prefect,  reference  may  be  made  to  the  Governor. 
All  resolutions,  however,  must  be  submitted  twice  a  year  to 
the  Home  Office,  through  the  Prefect  and  Governor  ;  and  it 
is  incumbent  on  the  Prefectural  Council  to  sit  at  least  twice 
in  the  year. 

Taxes  are  by  a  law  of  13th  October,  1895,  classified  as  Land- 
Tax,  Scutage,  Mining  Dues,  Customs  Dues,  and  Excise.     Ex- 


The  Reorganized  Korean  Government    385 

cise  is  now  made  to  include,  besides  ginseng  dues,  what  are 
known  as  * 'Miscellaneous  Dues,"  viz.  rent  of  glebe  lands,  tax 
on  rushes  used  in  mat-making,  market  dues  on  firewood  and 
tobacco,  tax  on  kilns,  tax  on  edible  seaweed,  tax  on  grind- 
stones, up-river  dues,  and  taxes  on  fisheries,  salterns,  and 
boats.  All  other  imposts  have  been  declared  illegal.  The 
first  Korean  Budget  under  the  reformed  system  was  published 
in  January,  1896,  and  showed  an  estimated  revenue  from  all 
sources  of  ^4,809,410. 

The  Palace  Department  underwent  reorganization,  nomi- 
nally at  least,  and  elaborate  schemes  for  the  administration  of 
Royal  Establishments,  State  Temples,  and  Mausolea  were  de- 
vised, and  the  relative  rank  of  members  of  the  Royal  Clan, 
including  ladies,  was  fixed — the  ladies  of  the  King's  Seraglio 
being  divided  into  eight  classes,  and  those  of  the  Crown 
Prince  into  four.  The  number  of  Court  officials  attached  to 
the  different  Royal  Households,  though  diminished,  is  legion. 

Various  ordinances  brought  the  classification  of  Korean 
officials  into  line  with  those  of  Japan.  Every  class  in  the 
country,  private  and  official,  has  come  into  the  purview  of 
the  Reorganizers,  and  finds  its  position  {on  paper)  more  or  less 
altered. 

Among  the  more  important  of  the  Edicts  which  have  nom- 
inally become  law  are  the  following  :  — 

Agreements  with  China  cancelled.  Distinctions  between 
Patrician  and  Plebeian  abolished.  Slavery  abolished.  Early 
Marriages  prohibited.  Remarriage  of  widows  permitted. 
Bribery  to  be  strictly  forbidden.  No  one  to  be  arrested  with- 
out warrant  for  civil  offences.  Couriers,  mountebanks,  and 
butchers  no  longer  to  be  under  degradation.  Local  Councils 
to  be  established.  New  coinage  issued.  Organization  of 
Police  force.  No  one  to  be  punished  without  trial.  Irregular 
taxation  by  Provincial  Governments  forbidden.  Extortion  of 
money  by  officials  forbidden.  Family  of  a  criminal  not  to  be 
involved   in   his   doom.     Great  modifications   as   to   torture. 


386  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Superfluous  Paraphernalia  abolished.  School  of  Instruction  in 
Vaccination.  Hair-cropping  Proclamation.  Solar  Calendar 
adopted.  "Drilled  Troops"  (Xw/^-r^/^-/^/)  abolished.  Legal 
punishments  defined.  Slaughter-Houses  licensed.  Committee 
of  Legal  Revision  appointed.  Telegraph  Regulations.  Postal 
Regulations.  Railways  placed  under  Bureau  of  Communica- 
tions. These  ordinances  are  a  selection  from  among  several 
hundred  promulgated  since  July,  1894. 

Of  the  reforms  notified  during  the  last  three  and  a  half  years 
several  have  not  taken  effect ;  and  concerning  others  there  has 
been  a  distinctly  retrograde  movement,  with  a  tendency  to 
revert  to  the  abuses  of  the  old  7'egime ;  and  others  which  were 
taken  in  hand  earnestly,  have  gradually  collapsed,  owing  in 
part  to  the  limpness  of  the  Korean  character,  and  in  part  to 
the  opposition  of  all  in  office  and  of  all  who  hope  for  office  to 
any  measures  of  reform.  Some,  admirable  in  themselves,  at 
present  exist  only  on  paper ;  but,  on  the  whole,  the  reorgan- 
ized system,  though  in  many  respects  fragmentary,  is  a  great 
improvement  on  the  old  one ;  and  it  may  not  unreasonably  be 
hoped  that  the  young  men,  who  are  now  being  educated  in  en- 
lightened ideas  and  notions  of  honor,  will  not  repeat  the  in- 
iquities of  their  fathers. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

EDUCATION  AND  FOREIGN  TRADE 

KOREAN  education  has  hitherto  failed  to  produce  patriots, 
thinkers,  or  honest  men.  It  has  been  conducted  thus. 
In  an  ordinary  Korean  school  the  pupils,  seated  on  the  floor 
with  their  Chinese  books  in  front  of  them,  the  upper  parts  of 
their  bodies  swaying  violently  from  side  to  side  or  backwards 
and  forwards,  from  daylight  till  sunset,  vociferate  at  the 
highest  and  loudest  pitch  of  their  voices  their  assigned  lessons 
from  the  Chinese  classics,  committing  them  to  memory  or  re- 
citing them  aloud,  writing  the  Chinese  characters,  filling  their 
receptive  memories  with  fragments  of  the  learning  of  the 
Chinese  sages  and  passages  of  mythical  history,  the  begoggled 
teacher,  erudite  and  supercilious,  rod  in  hand  and  with  a  book 
before  him,  now  and  then  throwing  in  a  word  of  correction  in 
stentorian  tones  which  rise  above  the  din. 

This  educational  mill  grinding  for  ten  or  more  years  enabled 
the  average  youth  to  aspire  to  the  literary  degrees  which  were 
conferred  at  the  Kwa-ga  or  Royal  Examinations  held  in  Seoul 
up  to  1894,  and  which  were  regarded  as  the  stepping-stones  to 
official  position,  the  great  object  of  Korean  ambition.  There 
is  nothing  in  this  education  to  develop  the  thinking  powers  or 
to  enable  the  student  to  understand  the  world  he  lives  in.  The 
effort  to  acquire  a  difficult  language,  the  knowledge  of  which 
gives  him  a  mastery  of  his  own,  is  in  itself  a  desirable  mental 
discipline,  and  the  ethical  teachings  of  Confucius  and  Mencius, 
however  defective,  contain  much  that  is  valuable  and  true,  but 
beyond  this  little  that  is  favorable  can  be  said. 

Narrowness,   grooviness,   conceit,  superciliousness,  a  false 

387 


388  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

pride  which  despises  manual  labor,  a  selfish  individualism, 
destructive  of  generous  public  spirit  and  social  trustfulness,  a 
slavery  in  act  and  thought  to  customs  and  traditions  2,000 
years  old,  a  narrow  intellectual  view,  a  shallow  moral  sense, 
and  an  estimate  of  women  essentially  degrading,  appear  to  be 
the  products  of  the  Korean  educational  system. 

With  the  abolition  of  the  Royal  Examinations  ;  a  change  as 
to  the  methods  of  Government  appointments  ;  the  working  of 
the  Western  leaven ;  the  increased  prominence  given  to  En- 
mun,  and  the  slow  entrance  of  new  ideas  into  the  country, 
some  of  the  desire  for  this  purely  Chinese  education  has  passed 
away,  and  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  stimulate  what 
threatened  to  become  a  flagging  interest  in  all  education  by 
new  educational  methods  and  forces,  the  influence  of  which 
should  radiate  from  the  capital. 

There  are  now  (October,  1897)  Government  Vernacular 
Schools,  a  Government  School  for  the  study  of  English,  For- 
eign Language  Schools,  and  Mission  Schools.  Outside  the 
Vernacular  and  Mission  Schools  there  is  the  before-mentioned 
Royal  English  School,  with  100  students  in  uniform,  regularly 
drilled  by  a  British  Sergeant  of  Marines,  and  crazy  about  foot- 
ball !  These  young  men,  in  appearance,  manners,  and  rapid 
advance  in  knowledge  of  English,  reflect  great  credit  on  their 
instructors.  After  this  come  Japanese,  French,  and  Russian 
Schools,  at  present  chiefly  linguistic.  Mr.  Birukoff,  in  charge 
of  the  Russian  School,  was  a  captain  of  light  artillery  in  the 
Russian  army,  and  in  both  the  Russian  and  French  schools  the 
students  are  drilled  daily  by  Russian  drill  instructors. 

Undoubtedly  the  establishment  which  has  exercised  and  is 
exercising  the  most  powerful  educational,  moral,  and  intel- 
lectual influence  in  Korea  is  the  Pai  Chai  College  ("Hall  for 
the  rearing  of  Useful  Men  "),  so  named  by  the  King  in  1887. 
This,  which  belongs  to  the  American  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  has  had  the  advantage  of  the  services  of  one  Princi- 
pal, the  Rev.  H.  G.  Appenzeller,  for  eleven  years.     It  has  a 


Education  and  Foreign  Trade  389 

Chinese-^//-;;///;/  department,  for  the  teaching  of  the  Chinese 
classics,  Sheffield's  Universal  History,  etc.,  a  small  theological 
department,  and  an  English  department,  in  which  reading, 
grammar,  composition,  spelling,  history,  geography,  arithme- 
tic, and  the  elements  of  chemistry  and  natural  philosophy  are 
taught.  Dr.  Jaisohn,  a  Korean  educated  in  America,  has  re- 
cently lectured  once  a  week  at  this  College  on  the  geographical 
divisions  of  the  earth  and  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory of  Europe,  and  has  awakened  much  enthusiasm.  A  pa- 
triotic spirit  is  being  developed  among  the  students,  as  well  as 
something  of  the  English  public  school  spirit  with  its  traditions 
of  honor.  This  College  is  undoubtedly  making  a  decided  im- 
pression, and  is  giving,  besides  a  liberal  education,  a  measure 
of  that  broader  intellectual  view  and  deepened  moral  sense 
which  may  yet  prove  the  salvation  of  Korea.  Christian  in- 
struction is  given  in  Korean,  and  attendance  at  chapel  is  com- 
pulsory. The  pupils  are  drilled,  and  early  in  1897,  during 
the  military  craze,  adopted  a  neat  European  military  uniform. 
There  is  a  flourishing  industrial  department,  which  includes  a 
tri-lingual  press  and  a  book-binding  establishment,  both  of 
which  have  full  employment. 

Early  in  1895  the  Government,  recognizing  the  importance 
of  the  secular  education  given  in  this  College,  made  an  agree- 
ment by  which  it  could  place  pupils  up  to  the  number  of  200 
there,  paying  for  their  tuition  and  the  salaries  of  certain  tutors. 

There  are  other  schools  for  girls  and  boys,  in  which  an  in- 
dustrial training  is  given,  conducted  with  some  success  by  the 
same  Mission,  and  the  American  Presbyterians  have  several 
useful  schools,  and  pay  much  attention  to  the  training  of  girls. 

The  Societe  des  Missions  Etran^eres  has  in  Seoul  an  Or- 
phanage and  two  Boys'  Schools,  Avith  a  total  of  262  children. 
The  principal  object  is  to  train  the  orphans  as  good  Roman 
Catholics.  In  the  Boys*  Schools  the  pupils  are  taught  to  read 
and  write  Chinese  and  En-inini,  and  to  a  limited  extent  they 
study  the  Chinese  classics.     The  religious  instruction  is  given 


390  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

in  En-7?iun.  They  aim  at  providing  a  primary  education  for 
the  children  of  Korean  converts. 

The  boys  in  the  Orphanage  are  taught  En-mun  only,  and  at 
thirteen  are  adopted  by  Roman  Catholics  in  Seoul  or  the  coun- 
try, and  learn  either  farming  or  trades,  or,  assuming  their  own 
support,  enter  a  trade  or  become  servants.  The  elder  girls 
learn  En-77iun,  sewing,  and  housework,  and  at  fifteen  are  mar- 
ried to  the  sons  of  Roman  Catholics.  At  Riong  San  near 
Seoul  there  is  a  Theological  Seminary  for  the  training  of  can- 
didates for  the  priesthood. 

Besides  these  there  is  a  school  established  in  1896  by  the 
"Japanese  Foreign  Educational  Society,"  which  is  composed 
chiefly  of  "advanced"  Japanese  Christians.  The  course  of 
study  embraces  the  Chinese  classics,  E^i-miin^  composition, 
the  study  of  Japanese  as  a  medium  for  the  study  of  Western 
learning,  and  lectures  on  science  and  religion.  This  school 
was  intended  by  its  founders  to  work  as  a  Christian  propa- 
ganda. 

In  1897  there  were  in  Seoul  nearly  900  students,  chiefly 
young  men,  in  Mission  and  Foreign  Schools,  inclusive  of  100 
in  the  Royal  English  School,  which  has  English  teachers.  In 
the  majority  of  these  the  students  are  trained  in  Christian 
morality,  fundamental  science,  general  history,  and  the  princi- 
ples of  patriotism.  A  certain  amount  of  denationalization  is 
connected  with  most  of  the  Boys'  Schools,  for  the  students 
necessarily  receive  new  ideas,  thoughts,  and  views  of  life, 
which  cannot  be  shaken  out  of  them  by  any  local  circum- 
stances, changing  their  standpoints  and  the  texture  of  their 
minds  for  life.  When  they  replace  the  elder  generation  better 
things  may  be  expected  for  Korea. 

The  Korean  reformed  ideas  of  education,  which  had  their 
origin  during  the  Japanese  reform  era,  embrace  the  creation  of 
a  primary  school  system,  an  efficient  Normal  College,  and  In- 
termediate Schools.  Actually  existing  under  the  Department 
of  Education  are  a  revived  Confucian  School,  the  Royal  Eng- 


Education  and  Foreign  Trade  391 

lish  School,  and  the  Normal  College,  placed  in  May,  1897, 
under  the  very  efficient  care  of  the  Rev.  H.  B.  Hulbert,  M.A., 
a  capable  and  scholarly  man,  some  of  whose  contributions  to 
our  knowledge  of  Korean  poetry  and  music  have  enriched 
earlier  chapters  of  these  volumes.  Text-books  in  En-mun  and 
teachers  who  can  teach  them  have  to  be  created.  It  is  hoped 
and  expected  that  supply  will  follow  demand,  and  that  in  a 
few  years  the  larger  provincial  towns  will  possess  Intermediate 
or  High  Schools,  and  the  villages  attain  the  advantages  of  ele- 
mentary schools,  all  using  a  uniform  series  of  text-books  in  the 
vernacular.  Chinese  finds  its  place  in  the  curriculum,  but  not 
as  the  medium  for  teaching  Korean  and  general  history,  or 
geography  and  arithmetic,  which  must  be  acquired  through 
the  native  tongue. 

In  spite  of  the  somewhat  spasmodic  and  altogether  unscien- 
tific methods  of  the  Education  Department,  it  has  succeeded 
in  getting  the  revived  Normal  College  under  way,  as  well  as  a 
fair  number  of  primary  schools,  where  over  1,000  boys  are 
learning  the  elements  of  arithmetic,  geography,  and  Korean 
history,  with  brief  outlines  of  the  systems  of  government  in 
other  civilized  countries.  Seventy-seven  youths  are  studying 
in  Japan  at  Government  expense,  and  have  made  fair  progress 
in  languages,  but  are  said  to  show  a  lack  of  mathematical 
aptitude  and  logical  power.  Altogether  the  Korean  educa- 
tional outlook  is  not  without  elements  of  hopefulness. 

Though  the  Foreign  Trade  of  Korea  only  averages  some- 
thing less  than  ^£1, 500, 000  annually,  the  potential  commerce 
of  a  country  with  not  less  than  12,000,000  of  people,  all  cot- 
ton-clad, ought  not  to  be  overlooked.  The  amount  of  foreign 
trade  which  exists  is  the  growth  of  thirteen  years  only,  but 
when  we  remember  that  Korea  is  a  purely  agricultural  country 
of  a  very  primitive  and  backward  type,  that  many  of  her  fin- 
est valleys  are  practically  isolated  by  mountain  ranges,  trav- 
ersed by  nearly  impassable  roads,  that  the  tyranny  of  custom 
is  strong,  that  the  Korean  farmer  is  only  just  learning  that  a 


392  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

profitable  and  almost  unlimited  demand  exists  for  his  rice  and 
beans  across  the  sea,  that  the  serious  cost  of  his  cotton  cloth- 
ing can  be  kept  down  by  importing  foreign  yarn  or  piece  goods, 
and  that  his  comfort  can  be  increased  by  the  introduction  of 
articles  of  foreign  manufacture,  and  that  such  facts  are  only 
slowly  entering  the  secluded  valleys  of  the  Hermit  Kingdom, 
the  actual  bulk  of  the  trade  is  rather  surprising,  and  its  possi- 
bilities are  worth  considering.  The  net  imports  of  foreign 
goods  have  increased  from  the  value  of  ^2,474,189  in  1886  to 
$6,531,324  in  1896.^  Measured  in  dollars,  the  trade  of  1896 
exceeds  that  of  any  previous  year  except  1895,  when  the  occu- 
pation of  Korea  by  Japanese  troops,  with  their  large  following 
of  transport  coolies,  created  an  artificial  expansion. 

Among  Korean  exports,  which  chiefly  consist  of  beans,  fish 
(dried  manure),  cow-hides,  ginseng,  paper,  rice,  and  seaweed, 
there  are  none  which  are  likely  to  find  a  market  elsewhere  than 
in  China  and  Japan,  but  Korea,  so  far  as  rice  goes,  is  on  the 
way  to  become  the  granary  of  the  latter  country,  her  export  in 
1890  having  reached  the  value  of  ;;^2  7i,ooo. 

With  imports,  European  countries,  India,  and  America  are 
concerned.  Without,  I  think,  being  over  sanguine,  I  antici- 
pate a  time  when,  with  improved  roads,  railroads,  and  enlight- 
enment, together  with  security  for  the  earnings  of  labor  from 
official  and  patrician  exactions,  the  Korean  will  have  no  further 
occasion  for  protecting  himself  by  an  appearance  of  squalid 
poverty,  and  when  he  will  become  on  a  largely  increased  scale 
a  consumer  as  well  as  a  producer,  and  will  surround  himself 
with  comforts  and  luxuries  of  foreign  manufacture,  as  his  breth- 
ren are  already  doing  under  the  happier  rule  of  Russia.  Under 
the  improved  conditions  which  it  is  reasonable  to  expect,  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  the  value  of  the  Foreign  Trade  of 
Korea  were  to  reach  ^^lo, 000, 000  in  another  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, and  the  share  which  England  is  to  have  of  it  is  an  im- 
portant question. 

'  For  detailed  statistics  of  Korean  Foreign  Trade,  see  Appendix  C. 


Education  and  Foreign  Trade  393 

Our  great  competitor  in  the  Korean  markets  is  Japan,  and 
we  have  to  deal  not  only  with  a  rival  within  twenty  hours  of 
Korean  shores,  and  with  nearly  a  monopoly  of  the  carrying 
trade,  but  with  the  most  nimble-witted,  adaptive,  persevering, 
and  pushing  people  of  our  day.  It  is  inevitable  that  British 
hardware  and  miscellaneous  articles  must  be  ousted  by  the 
products  of  Japanese  cheaper  labor,  and  that  the  Japanese  will 
continue  to  supply  the  increasing  demand  for  scissors,  knives, 
matches,  needles,  hoes,  grass  knives,  soap,  perfumes,  kerosene 
lamps,  iron  cooking  pots,  nails,  and  the  like,  but  the  loss  of 
the  trade  in  cotton  piece  goods  would  be  a  serious  matter,  and 
the  possibility  of  it  has  to  be  faced. 

The  value  of  the  import  trade  in  1896  was  ;£7o8,46i  as 
against  ^£875, 816  for  1895  (an  exceptional  year),  and  the 
larger  part  of  this  reduction  took  place  in  articles  of  British 
manufacture,  the  decrease  of  ^134,304  in  the  value  of  cotton 
imports  falling  almost  entirely  on  cottons  of  British  origin,  the 
Japanese  import  not  only  retaining  its  position  in  spite  of  ad- 
verse circumstances,  but  showing  a  slight  increase.  Japanese 
sheetings  showed  a  substantial  increase,  more  than  counterbal- 
anced by  the  diminished  import  of  the  British  and  American 
article,  and  Japanese  cotton  yarn  continued  to  arrive  in  larger 
quantities,  and  is  gradually  driving  British  and  Indian  yarn 
out  of  the  Korean  market.  It  can  be  sold  at  a  considerably 
lower  price  than  the  British  article,  and  practically  at  the  same 
price  as  the  Indian,  with  which  its  improved  quality  enables  it 
to  compete  on  very  favorable  terms. 

As  the  result  of  inquiries  carried  on  during  my  two  journeys 
in  the  interior,  as  well  as  at  the  treaty  ports,  it  does  not  appear 
to  me  that  Japanese  success  is  even  chiefly  caused  by  proxim- 
ity, and  in  1896  she  had  to  compete  with  the  enterprise  and 
energy  of  the  Chinese,  who,  having  returned  after  the  war  to 
the  benefits  of  British  protection,  were  pushing  the  distribu- 
tion of  Manchester  goods  imported  from  Shanghai. 

Rather  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  success  of  our  rival  is 


394  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

mainly  due  to  causes  which  I  have  seen  in  operation  in  Persia 
and  Central  Asia  as  well  as  in  Korea,  and  which  embrace  not 
only  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  tastes  and  needs  of  customers, 
but  the  neglect  to  act  upon  information  supplied  by  consular 
and  diplomatic  agents,  a  groovy  adherence  to  British  methods 
of  manufacture,  and  the  ignoring  of  native  desires  as  to  colors, 
patterns,  and  the  widths  and  makes  which  suit  native  clothing 
and  treatment,  and  the  size  of  bales  best  suited  to  native 
methods  of  transport.  I  do  not  allude  to  the  charge  ofttimes 
made  against  our  manufacturers  of  supplying  inferior  cottons, 
because  I  have  never  seen  any  indications  of  its  correctness, 
nor  have  I  heard  any  complaints  on  the  subject  either  in  Korea 
or  China,  but  of  the  ignoring  of  the  requirements  of  customers 
there  is  no  doubt.  It  is  everywhere  a  grievance  and  source  of 
loss,  and  is  likely  to  lose  us  the  prospective  advantages  of  the 
Korean  market. 

The  Japanese  success,  putting  the  advantages  of  proximity 
aside,  is,  I  believe,  mainly  due  to  the  accuracy  of  the  informa- 
tion obtained  by  their  keen-witted  agents,  who  have  visited  all 
the  towns  and  villages  in  Korea,  and  to  the  carefulness  with 
which  their  manufacturers  are  studying  the  tastes  and  require- 
ments of  the  Korean  market.  Their  goods  reach  the  shore  in 
manageable  bales,  which  do  not  require  to  be  adapted  after 
arrival  to  the  minute  Korean  pony,  and  their  price,  width, 
length,  and  texture  commend  them  to  the  Korean  consumer. 
The  Japanese  understand  that  cotton  i8  inches  wide  is  the 
only  cotton  from  which  Korean  garments  can  be  fashioned 
without  very  considerable  waste,  and  they  supply  the  market 
with  it;  and  on  the  report  of  the  agents  of  the  importing 
firms,  the  weavers  of  Osaka  and  other  manufacturing  towns 
with  adroitness  and  rapidity  closely  adapted  the  texture,  width, 
and  length  of  their  cottons  to  those  of  the  hand-loom  cotton 
goods  made  in  South  Korea,  which  are  deservedly  popular  for 
their  durability,  and  have  succeeded  not  only  in  producing  an 
imitation  of  Korean  cotton  cloth,  which  stands  the  pounding 


Education  and  Foreign  Trade  395 

and  beating  of  Korean  washing,  but  one  which  actually  de- 
ceives the  Korean  weavers  themselves  as  to  its  origin,  and 
which  has  won  great  popularity  with  the  Korean  women.  If 
Korea  is  to  be  a  British  market  in  the  future,  the  lost  ground 
must  be  recovered  by  working  on  Japanese  lines,  which  are 
the  lines  of  commercial  common  sense. 

To  sum  up,  I  venture  to  express  the  opinion  that  the  circum- 
stances of  the  large  population  of  Korea  are  destined  to  gradual 
improvement  with  the  aid  of  either  Japan  or  Russia,  that  for- 
eign trade  must  increase  more  or  less  steadily  with  increased 
buying  powers  and  improved  means  of  transport,  and  that  the 
amount  which  falls  to  the  share  of  Great  Britain  will  depend 
largely  upon  whether  British  manufacturers  are  willing  or  not 
to  adapt  their  goods  to  Korean  tastes  and  convenience. 

As  instances  of  the  aptitude  of  the  Koreans  for  taking  to 
foreign  articles  which  suit  their  needs,  it  may  be  mentioned, 
on  the  authority  of  a  report  from  the  British  Consul-General 
to  the  British  Foreign  Office  on  Trade  and  Finance  in  Korea 
for  1896,  presented  to  Parliament  July,  1897,  that  the  import 
of  lucifer  matches  reached  the  figure  of  ^^i  1,386,^  while  that 
of  American  and  Russian  kerosene  exceeded  ^36,000. 

In  1896  the  export  of  gold  increased,  and  was  ^1,390,412, 
one  million  dollars'  worth  being  exported  from  Won-san  alone. 
The  gold  export  included,  the  excess  of  Korean  imports  over 
exports  was  only  about  ^£"50,000,  and  as  it  is  estimated  that 
only  one  half  of  the  gold  actually  leaving  the  country  is  de- 
clared, it  may  be  assumed  that  Korea  is  able  to  pay  for  a  larger 
supply  of  foreign  goods  than  she  has  hitherto  taken.  The  sta- 
tistics of  Korean  Foreign  Trade  which  are  to  be  found  in  the 
Appendix  are  the  latest  returns,  supplied  to  me  by  the  courtesy 
of  the  Korean  Customs'  Department,^  the  returns  of  shipping 
and  of  principal  articles  of  export  and  import  being  taken  from 

» This  seems  incredible,  and  compels  one  to  suppose  that  ;^  is  a  mis- 
print for  $. 

2  See  Appendix  B. 


396  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

H.B.M.'s.  Consul- General's  Report  for  1896,  presented  to 
Parliament  July,  1897.^  With  reference  to  the  shipping  re- 
turns, it  must  be  observed  that  the  British  flag  is  practically 
unrepresented  in  Korean  waters,  even  a  chartered  British 
steamer  being  rarely  seen.  The  monopoly  of  the  carrying 
trade  which  Japan  has  enjoyed  has  only  lately  been  broken 
into  by  the  establishment  of  a  Russian  subsidized  line  as  a 
competitor. 

In  addition  to  the  trade  of  the  three  ports  open  to  Foreign 
Trade  in  1896,  to  which  the  returns  given  refer  exclusively, 
there  is  that  carried  on  by  the  non-treaty  ports,  and  on  the 
Chinese  and  Russian  frontiers. 

In  concluding  this  brief  notice  of  the  Foreign  Trade  of 
Korea,  I  may  remark  that  Japanese  competition,  so  far  as  it 
consists  in  the  ability  to  undersell  us  owing  to  cheaper  labor, 
is  likely  to  diminish  year  by  year,  as  the  conditions  under 
which  goods  can  be  manufactured  gradually  approximate  to 
those  which  exist  in  England ;  the  rapidly  increasing  price  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  in  Japan,  the  demand  for  more  than  "a 
living  wage,"  and  an  appreciation  of  the  advantages  of  combi- 
nation all  tending  in  this  direction. 

On  the  subject  of  Finance  there  is  little  to  be  said.  The 
principal  items  of  revenue  are  a  land  tax  of  six  dollars  on  a 
fertile  kyel,  and  five  dollars  on  a  mountain  kyel,  a  house  tax  of 
60  cents  annually,  from  which  houses  in  the  capital  are  ex- 
empt, the  ginseng  tax,  and  the  gold  dues,  making  up  a  budget 
of  about  4,000,000  dollars,  a  sum  amply  sufficient  for  the  le- 
gitimate expenditure  of  the  country.  The  land  tax  is  ex- 
tremely light.  Only  about  a  third  of  the  revenue  actually 
collected  reaches  the  National  Treasury,  partly  owing  to  the 
infinite  corruption  of  the  officials  through  whose  hands  it 
passes,  and  partly  because  provincial  income  and  expenditure 
are  to  a  certain  extent  left  to  local  management.  If  the  Gov- 
ernment is  in  earnest  in  the  all  important  matter  of  educating 
'  See  Appendix  C. 


Education  and  Foreign  Trade  397 

the  people,  the  increased  expenditure  can  readily  be  met  by- 
imposing  taxation  on  such  articles  of  luxury  as  wine  and  to- 
bacco, which  are  enormously  consumed,  Seoul  alone  possess- 
ing 475  wine  shops  and  1,100  tobacco  shops.  But  even  with- 
out resorting  to  any  new  source  of  revenue,  with  strict  super- 
vision and  regular  accounts  the  income  of  the  Central  Govern- 
ment is  capable  of  considerable  expansion. 

In  spite  of  the  awful  official  corruption  which  has  been 
revealed,  and  the  chaos  which  up  to  1896  prevailed  in  the 
Treasury,  the  Korean  financial  outlook  is  a  hopeful  one.  At 
the  close  of  1895  the  King  persuaded  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown, 
LL.D.,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  Customs,  to  undertake  the 
thankless  office  of  Adviser  to  the  Treasury,  confirming  his 
position  some  months  later  by  the  issue  of  an  edict  making  his 
signature  essential  to  all  orders  for  payments  out  of  the  national 
purse.  Korean  imagination  and  ingenuity  are  chiefly  fertile  in 
devising  tricks  and  devices  for  getting  hold  of  public  money, 
and  anything  more  hydra-headed  than  the  dishonesty  of 
Korean  official  life  cannot  be  found,  so  that  it  is  not  surprising 
that  as  soon  as  the  foreign  adviser  blocks  one  nefarious  pro- 
ceeding another  is  sprung  upon  him,  and  that  the  army  of  use- 
less drones,  deprived  of  their  "vested  interests"  by  the  ju- 
dicious retrenchments  which  have  been  made,  as  well  as  thou- 
sands who  are  trembling  for  their  ill-gotten  gains,  should  oppose 
financial  reform  by  every  device  of  Oriental  ingenuity. 

However,  race,  as  represented  by  the  honor  and  capacity  of 
one  European,  is  carrying  the  day,  and  Korean  Finance  is 
gradually  being  placed  on  a  sound  basis.  With  careful  man- 
agement, judicious  retrenchments  of  expenditure,  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  chaos  in  the  Treasury  to  an  orderly  system  of  ac- 
counts, and  a  different  method  of  collecting  the  land  tax,  which 
is  now  being  remitted  with  tolerable  regularity  to  the  Treasury, 
an  actual  financial  equilibrium  was  established  and  maintained 
during  the  year  1896,  which  closed  with  a  considerable  sur- 
plus, and  in  April,   1897,  one  million  dollars  of  the  Japanese 


398  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

loan  of  three  millions  was  repaid  to  Japan,  and  there  is  every 
prospect  that  the  remaining  indebtedness  might  be  paid  off  out 
of  income  in  1899,  leaving  Korea  in  the  proud  position  of  a 
country  without  a  national  debt,  and  with  a  surplus  of  income 
over  expenditure  ! 

The  prosperous  financial  conclusion  of  1896  is  all  the  more 
remarkable  because  of  certain  exceptional  expenditures.  Two 
new  regiments  were  added  to  the  army,  the  old  Arsenal,  a  dis- 
used costly  toy,  was  put  into  working  order,  with  all  neces- 
sary modern  improvements,  under  the  supervision  of  a  Russian 
machinist,  the  Kyeng-wun  Palace  was  built,  costly  ceremonies 
and  works  connected  with  the  late  Queen's  prospective  funeral 
were  paid  for,  and  a  considerable  area  of  western  Seoul  was 
recreated.  All  civil  Government  employes  (and  they  are  le- 
gion), as  well  as  soldiers  and  police,  are  paid  regularly  every 
month,  and  sinecures  are  very  slowly  disappearing. 

A  Korean  silver,  copper,  and  brass  coinage,  convenient  as 
well  as  ornamental,  is  coming  into  general  circulation,  and  as 
it  gradually  displaces  cash,  is  setting  trade  free  from  at  least 
one  of  the  conditions  which  hampered  it,  and  increased  bank- 
ing facilities  are  tending  in  the  same  direction. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

D^MONISM   OR   SHAMANISM 

KOREAN  cities  without  priests  or  temples ;  houses  with- 
out "  god  shelves  "  ;  village  festivals  without  a  inikoshi 
or  idols  carried  in  festive  procession ;  marriage  and  burial 
without  priestly  blessing ;  an  absence  of  religious  ceremonials 
and  sacred  books  to  which  real  or  assumed  reverence  is  paid, 
and  nothing  to  show  that  religion  has  any  hold  on  the  popular 
mind,  constitute  a  singular  Korean  characteristic. 

Putting  aside  Buddhism  with  its  gross  superstitions,  prac- 
tised chiefly  in  remote  places,  and  the  magisterial  homage  be- 
fore the  Confucian  tablets  to  the  memory  of  the  Great  Teacher, 
the  popular  cult — I  dare  not  call  it  a  religion — consists  of  a 
number  of  observances  dictated  by  the  dread  of  bodiless 
beings  created  by  Korean  fancy,  and  representing  chiefly  the 
mysterious  forces  of  nature.  It  may  be  assumed,  taking  tradi- 
tion for  a  guide,  as  certain  of  the  litanies  used  in  exorcism 
and  invocation  were  introduced  along  with  Buddhism  from 
China,  that  Korean  imagination  has  grafted  its  own  fancies  on 
those  which  are  of  foreign  origin,  and  which  are  of  by  no 
means  distant  kinship  to  those  of  the  Shamanism  of  northern 
Asia. 

The  external  evidences  of  this  cult  are  chiefly  heaps  of  stones 
on  the  tops  of  passes,  rude  shrines  here  and  there  containing 
tawdry  pictures  of  mythical  beings,  with  the  name  in  Chinese 
characters  below,  strings  from  which  depend  small  bags  of 
rice,  worn-out  straw  shoes,  strips  of  dirty  rags,  and,  though 
rarely,  rusty  locks  of  black  hair.  Outside  of  many  villages 
are  high  posts  (not  to  be  confounded  with  the  distance  posts) 

399 


400  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

with  their  tops  rudely  carved  into  heads  and  faces  half  human, 
half  daemonic,  from  which  straw  ropes,  with  dependent  straw 
tassels,  recalling  the  Shintoism  of  Japan,  are  stretched  across 
the  road.  There  are  large  or  distorted  trees  also,  on  which 
rags,  ricebags,  and  old  shoes  are  hung,  and  under  which  are 
heaps  of  stones  at  which  it  is  usual  for  travellers  to  bow  and 
expectorate.  On  the  ridge  poles  of  royal  buildings  and  city 
gates,  there  are  rows  of  grotesque  bronze  or  china  figures  for 
the  purpose  of  driving  away  evil  demons,  and  at  crossroads 
a  log  of  wood  perforated  like  a  mouse-trap,  and  with  one  hole 
bunged  up,  over  which  travellers  step  carefully,  may  some- 
times be  seen.  In  cities  the  beating  of  drums  accompanied 
by  the  clashing  of  cymbals  vies  with  the  laundry  sticks  in 
breaking  the  otherwise  profound  stillness  of  night,  and  in 
travelling  through  the  country,  the  mu-tang  or  sorceress  is  con- 
stantly to  be  seen  going  through  various  musical  and  dancing 
performances  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd  in  front  of  a  house  where 
there  is  sickness, 

I  have  referred  to  these  things  in  earlier  chapters,  but  the 
subject  is  such  an  important  one,  and  the  influence  on  Korean 
life  of  the  belief  in  daemons  is  so  strong  and  injurious,  that  I 
feel  justified  in  laying  before  my  readers  at  some  length  such 
details  of  D(Bmonism  as  have  hitherto  been  ascertained.  There 
is  an  unwillingness  to  speak  to  foreigners  on  this  topic,  and 
inquirers  may  have  been  purposely  misled,  but  enough  has 
been  gained  to  make  it  likely  that  further  inquiry  will  be  pro- 
ductive of  very  valuable  results.^  The  superstitions  already 
mentioned,  however  trivial  in  themselves,  point  to  that  which 
underlies  all  religion,  the  belief  in  something  outside  ourselves 
which  is  higher  or  more  powerful  than  ourselves. 

» I  desire  again  to  express  my  indebtedness  to  the  Rev,  G,  Heber  Jones, 
of  Chemulpo,  for  the  loan  of,  and  the  liberty  to  use,  his  very  careful  and 
painstaking  notes  on  the  subject  of  Korean  d^monism,  and  also  to  a  paper 
on  77/1?  Exorcism  of  Spirits  in  Korea,  by  Dr.  Landis  of  Chemulpo. 
Apart  from  the  researches  of  these  two  Korean  scholars,  the  results  of  my 
own  inquiry  and  observation  would  scarcely  have  been  worth  publishing. 


Dsemonism  or  Shamanism  401 

It  is  indeed  asserted  by  many  of  the  so-called  educated  class 
that  the  only  cult  in  Korea  is  ancestor  worship,  and  they  pro- 
fess to  ridicule  the  rags,  cairns,  shrines,  and  the  other  para- 
phernalia of  daemon-worship,  as  the  superstition  of  women  and 
coolies,  and  it  is  probable  that  in  Seoul,  at  least,  few  men  of 
the  upper  class  are  believers,  or  patronize  the  rites  otherwise 
than  as  unmeaning  customs  which  it  would  be  impolitic  to  dis- 
continue, but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  from  the  Palace  to  the  hovel 
all  women,  and  a  majority  of  men,  go  through  the  forms 
which,  influencing  Buddhism,  and  possibly  being  modified  by 
it,  have  existed  in  Korea  for  more  than  fifteen  centuries. 

Without  claiming  any  degree  of  scientific  accuracy  for  the 
term  Shaj?iajiisf?t,  as  applied  to  this  cult  in  Korea,  it  is  more 
convenient  to  use  it,  the  word  daemon  having  come  to  bear  a 
popular  meaning  which  prohibits  its  use  where  good  spirits  as 
well  as  bad  are  indicated.  So  far  as  I  know,  Shamanism  ex^ 
ists  only  in  Asia,  and  flourishes  specially  among  the  tribes 
north  of  the  Amur,  the  Samoyedes,  Ostiaks,  etc.,  as  well  as 
among  hill  tribes  on  the  southwestern  frontier  of  China.  The 
term  Shamati  may  be  applied  to  all  persons,  male  or  female, 
whose  profession  it  is  to  have  direct  dealings  with  daemons, 
and  to  possess  the  power  of  securing  their  good  will  and  avert- 
ing their  malignant  influences  by  various  magical  rites,  charms, 
and  incantations,  to  cure  diseases  by  exorcisms,  to  predict 
future  events,  and  to  interpret  dreams.  ^ 

Korean  Shama7iism  or  Daemonism  differs  from  that  of  north- 
ern Asia  in  its  mildness,  possibly  the  result  of  early  Buddhist 
influence.  It  is  the  cult  of  daemons  not  necessarily  evil,  but 
usually  the  enemies  of  man,  and  addicted  to  revenge  and 
caprice.  Though  the  Shamans  are  neither  an  order,  nor 
linked  by  a  common  organization,  they  are  practically  recog- 
nized as  a  priesthood,  in  so  far  as  it  is  through  their  offices 
that  the  daemons  are  approached  and  propitiated  on  behalf  of 
the  people.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Shaman  or  wizard  was 
one  of  the  figures  in  the  dawn  of  Korean  history,  and  that 


402  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Dsemonism  in  its  early  stage  was  marked  by  human  sacrifices. 
Shamans  in  the  train  of  royalty,  and  as  a  part  of  the  social 
organization  of  the  Peninsula,  figure  in  very  early  Korean 
story,  and  they  appear  to  have  been  the  chief,  if  not  the  only, 
*' religious"  instructors. 

One  class  among  the  Shamans  is  incorporated  into  one  of 
those  guilds  which  are  the  Trades  Unions  of  Korea,  and  the 
Government  has  imposed  registration  on  another  class.^  There 
are  now  two  principal  classes  of  Shamans,  the  Fa?i-su  and  the 
mu-tang.  The  Pan-su  are  blind  sorcerers,  and  those  parents 
are  fortunate  who  have  a  blind  son,  for  he  is  certain  to  be  able 
to  make  a  good  living  and  support  them  in  their  old  age.  The 
Fan-sii  were  formerly  persons  of  much  distinction  in  the  king- 
dom, but  their  social  position  has  been  lowered  during  the 
present  dynasty,  though  in  the  present  reign  their  influence  in 
the  Palace,  and  specially  with  the  late  Queen,  has  wrought 
much  evil.  The  chief  officials  of  the  Pan-su  Guild  in  Seoul 
hold  the  official  titles  of  Cham-pan  '^  and  Sewig-ji  from  the 
Government,  which  gives  prestige  to  the  whole  body.  In 
order  to  guard  their  professional  interests,  the  Pan-su  have  local 
guilds,  and  in  the  various  sections  '^  clubhouses  "  built  out  of 
their  own  funds.  The  central  office  of  the  Pan-sic  guild  in 
Seoul  was  built  and  maintained  by  Government,  and  the  two 
chief  officials  of  the  guild  hold,  or  held,  quasi-Q%.c\2\.  rank. 

It  appears  that  admission  into  the  fraternity  is  only  granted 
to  an  applicant  on  his  giving  proof  of  proficiency  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  a  cumbrous  body  of  orally  transmitted  Shaman  tra- 
dition, wisdom  and  custom,  much  of  it  believed  by  the  people 
to  be  4,000  years  old,  and  embracing  scraps  of  superstition 

'  What  is  true  in  Korea  to-day  may  be  untrue  to-morrow.  One  month 
there  was  a  police  raid  in  Seoul  upon  the  mu-tang  or  sorceresses,  another 
the  sisterhood  was  flourishing,  and  so  the  pendulum  swings. 

»  Cham-pan  is  a  title  of  officials  of  a  certain  rank  in  Government  De- 
partments in  Seoul,  and  might  be  rendered  Secretary  of  Department. 
Seung-ji  probably  has  the  same  meaning. 


Daemonism  or  Shamanism 


403 


from  the  darkest  arcana  of  Buddhism,  as  well  as  fragments  of 
Confucianism.  The  neophyte  has  to  learn  of  ''  the  existence, 
nature,  and  power  of  daemons,  their  relations  with  man,  the 
efficacy  of  exorcism  through  a  magic  ritual,  and  the  genuine 
and  certain  character  of  the  results  of  divination."  He  must 
meditate  on  ''the  customs,  habits,  and  weaknesses  of  every 
class  in  Korean  society  in  order  to  deal  knowingly  with  his 
clients.  A  slight  acquaintance  with  Confucianism  must  enable 
him  to  give  a  flavor  of  learning  to  his  speech,  and  he  must 
be  well  drilled  in  the  methods  of  exorcisms,  incantations, 
magic  spells,  divination,  and  the  manufacture  of  charms  and/ 
amulets." 

The  services  of  sorcerers  or  geomancers  are  invariably  called 
for  in  connection  with  the  choice  of  sites  for  houses  and 
graves,  in  certain  contracts,  and  on  the  occasion  of  unusual 
calamities,  sickness,  births,  marriages,  and  the  purchase  of 
land.  The  chief  functions  of  the  Shaman  are,  the  influencing 
of  daemons  by  ritual  and  magical  rites,  propitiating  them  by 
offerings,  exorcisms,  and  the  procuring  of  oracles.  In  their 
methods,  dancing,  gesticulations,  a  real  or  feigned  ecstasy, 
and  a  drum  play  an  important  part.  The  fees  of  the  Shamaii\ 
are  high,  and  it  is  believed  that  at  the  lowest  computation, 
Daemonism  costs  Korea  two  million  five  hundred  thousand 
dollars  annually  !  In  order  to  obtain  favors  or  avert  calami- 
ties, it  is  necessary  to  employ  the  Shamans  as  mediators,  and  it 
is  their  fees,  and  not  the  cost  of  the  offerings  which  press  so  / 
heavily  on  the  people. 

Among  the  reasons  which  render  the  Shaman  a  necessity  are 
these.  In  Korean  belief,  earth,  air,  and  sea,  are  peopled  by  : 
daemons.  They  haunt  every  umbrageous  tree,  shady  ravine, 
crystal  spring,  and  mountain  crest.  On  green  hill  slopes,  in 
peaceful  agricultural  valleys,  in  grassy  dells,  on  wooded  up- 
lands, by  lake  and  stream,  by  road  and  river,  in  north,  south, 
east,  and  west  they  abound,  making  malignant  sport  out  of 
human  destinies.     They  are  on  every  roof,  ceiling,  fireplace, 


404  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

kang  and  beam.  They  fill  the  chimney,  the  shed,  the  living 
room,  the  kitchen — they  are  on  every  shelf  and  jar.  In  thou- 
sands they  waylay  the  traveller  as  he  leaves  his  home,  beside 
him,  behind  him,  dancing  in  front  of  him,  whirring  over  his 
head,  crying  out  upon  him  from  earth,  air,  and  water.  They 
are  numbered  by  thousands  of  billions,  and  it  has  been  well 
said  that  their  ubiquity  is  an  unholy  travesty  of  the  Divine 
Omnipresence.^  This  belief,  and  it  seems  to  be  the  only  one 
he  has,  keeps  the  Korean  in  a  perpetual  state  of  nervous  appre- 
hension, it  surrounds  him  with  indefinite  terrors,  and  it  may 
truly  be  said  of  him  that  he  ''  passes  the  time  of  his  sojourning 
here  in  fear."  Every  Korean  home  is  subject  to  daemons, 
here,  there,  and  everywhere.  They  touch  the  Korean  at  every 
point  in  life,  making  his  well-being  depend  on  a  continual 
series  of  acts  of  propitiation,  and  they  avenge  every  omission 
with  merciless  severity,  keeping  him  under  this  yoke  of  bond- 
age from  birth  to  death. 

The  phrase  ''daemon-worship"  as  applied  to  Korean 
Shamanistn  is  somewhat  misleading.  These  legions  of  spirits 
which  in  Korean  belief  peopled  the  world,  are  of  two  classes, 
the  first  alone  answering  to  our  conception  of  demons.  These 
are  the  self-existent  spirits,  unseen  enemies  of  man,  whose  de- 
signs are  always  malignant  or  malicious,  and  spirits  of  de- 
parted persons,  who,  having  died  in  poverty  and  manifold  dis- 
tresses, are  unclothed,  hungry,  and  shivering  vagrants,  bring- 
ing untold  calamities  on  those  who  neglect  to  supply  their 
wants.  It  is  true,  however,  that  about  80  per  cent,  of  the 
legions  of  spirits  are  malignant.  The  second  class  consists 
also  of  self-existent  spirits,  whose  natures  are  partly  kindly,  and 
of  departed  spirits  of  prosperous  and  good  people,  but  even 
these  are  easily  offended  and  act  with  extraordinary  capricious- 
ness.  These,  however,  by  due  intercessions  and  offerings,  may 
be  induced  to  assist  man  in  obtaining  his  desires,  and  may  aid 
him  to  escape  from  the  afflictive  power  of  the  evil  daemons. 
'  Rev.  G.  H.  Jones. 


Di£monism  or  Shamanism  405 

The  comfort  and  prosperity  of  every  individual  depend  on  his 
ability  to  win  and  keep  the  favor  of  the  latter  class. 

Koreans  attribute  every  ill  by  which  they  are  afflicted  to 
daemoniacal  influence.  Bad  luck  in  any  transaction,  official 
malevolence,  illness,  whether  sudden  or  prolonged,  pecuniary 
misfortune,  and  loss  of  power  or  position  are  due  to  the 
malignity  of  daemons.  It  is  over  such  evils  that  the  Pati-su  is 
supposed  to  have  power,  and  to  be  able  to  terminate  them  by 
magical  rites,  he  being  possessed  by  a  powerful  daemon,  whose 
strength  he  is  able  to  wield. 

As  an  example  of  the  modus  operandi^  exorcism  in  sickness 
which  is  believed  to  be  the  work  of  an  unclean  daemon  may 
be  taken.  The  Fan-sic  arrives  at  the  house,  and  boldly  under- 
takes the  expulsion  of  the  foul  spirit,  the  process  being  divided 
into  four  stages.^ 

1.  By  a  few  throws  from  the  tortoise  divining  box,  the 
sorcerer  discovers  the  demon's  nature  and  character,  after 
which  he  seeks  for  an  auspicious  hour  and  makes  arrangements 
for  the  next  stage. 

2.  Gaining  control  of  the  daemon  follows.  The  Pan-su 
equips  himself  with  a  wand  of  oak  or  pine  a  foot  and  half  long, 
and  a  bystander  is  asked  to  hold  this  in  an  upright  position  on 
an  ironing  stone.  Magic  formulas  are  recited  till  the  rod  be- 
gins to  shake  and  even  dance  on  the  stone,  this  activity  being 
believed  to  be  the  result  of  the  daemon  having  entered  the 
wand.  At  this  stage  a  talk  takes  place  to  test  the  accuracy  of 
the  divination  of  the  daemon's  name  and  nature,  and  of  the 
cause  of  the  affliction.  The  Pan-su  manages  the  questions  so 
dexterously  that  a  simple  yes  is  indicated  by  motion  in  the 
wand,  while  no  is  expressed  by  quiescence.  At  this  stage  the 
daemon  is  given  the  choice  of  quietly  disappearing ;  after 
which,  if  he  is  obstinate,  the  Pan-su  proceeds  to  dislodge  him. 

3.  The  third  stage  involves  the  aid  of  certain  familiars  of 

1  This  detailed  account  is  from  notes  kindly  lent  to  me  by  the  Rev.  G. 
H.  Jones. 


4o6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  Fan-sic.  A  special  wand,  made  of  an  eastern  branch  of  a 
peach  tree,  which  has  much  repute  in  expelling  daemons,  is 
taken,  and  is  held  on  a  table  in  a  vertical  position  by  an  as- 
sistant. The  Pan-sn  recites  a  farther  part  of  his  magic  ritual, 
its  power  being  shown  by  acute  movements  in  the  wand  in  spite 
of  attempts  to  keep  it  steady.  A  parley  takes  place  with  the 
Chang-gun,  the  spirit  who  has  been  summoned  to  find  out  his 
objects.  He  promises  to  catch  the  Chang-kun,  the  malignant 
daemon,  and  after  preparations  and  offerings  have  been  made 
he  is  asked  to  search  for  him.  The  man  who  holds  the  wand 
is  violently  dragged  by  a  supernatural  power  out  of  the  house 
to  the  place  where  the  Chang-kn7i  is.  Then  the  Cha7ig-gtin  is 
supposed  to  seize  him,  and  the  wand-holder  is  dragged  back 
to  the  house. 

4.  A  bottle  with  a  wide  mouth  is  put  on  the  floor,  and 
alongside  it  a  piece  of  paper  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the 
unclean  daemon,  which  has  been  obtained  by  divination  and 
parley.  The  paper  being  touched  with  the  magic  wand  jumps 
into  the  bottle,  which  is  hastily  corked  and  buried  on  the  hill- 
^side  or  at  the  crossroads. 

This  singular  form  of  exorcism  has  a  long  and  unintelligible 
ritual,  in  the  cases  of  those  who  can  afford  to  pay  for  it,  occu- 
pying some  days,  and  at  greater  or  lesser  length  is  repeated 
daily  by  the  Sha?nans  throughout  Korea.  It  is  usually  suc- 
ceeded by  a  form  known  as  the  Ritual  Pacification,  which 
takes  a  whole  night.  This  is  for  the  purpose  of  restoring 
order  among  the  household  demons,  who  have  been  much  up- 
set by  the  previous  proceedings,  cleaning  the  house,  and  com- 
mitting it  and  its  inmates  to  the  protection  of  the  most  power- 
ful members  of  the  Korean  daemoniacal  hierarchy. 

The  instruments  of  exorcism  used  by  the  Fan-sii  are  offer- 
ings to  be  made  at  various  stages  of  the  process,  a  drum, 
cymbals,  a  bell,  a  divination  box,  and  a  wand  or  wands. 

The  Shamans  claim  to  have  derived  many  of  their  very 
numerous  spells  and  formulas  from  Buddhists,  who  on  their 


Dsemonism  or  Shamanism  407 

side  assert  that  dgemon-worship  was  practised  in  Korea  long 
before  the  introduction  of  Buddhism,  and  a  relic  of  this  wor- 
ship is  pointed  out  in  the  custom  which  prevails  in  the  Korean 
magistracies  of  offering  to  guardian  spirits  on  stone  altars  on 
the  hills,  pigs,  or  occasionally  sheep,  before  sowing  time  and 
after  harvest,  as  well  as  in  case  of  drought,  or  other  general 
calamity.  This  sacrifice  is  offered  by  the  local  magistrate  in 
the  king's  name,  and  though  identical  in  form  with  that  offered 
to  Hana7iim  (the  Lord  of  Heaven),  is  altogether  distinct  from 
it.  Most  of  the  formulae  recited  by  the  Shamans  have  the 
reputation  of  being  unsafe  for  ordinary  people  to  use,  but  in 
consideration  of  the  possibility  of  a  great  emergency,  one  is 
provided,  which  is  pronounced  absolutely  safe.  This  consists 
of  fifty-six  characters  which  must  be  recited  forwards,  back- 
wards, and  sideways,  and  is  called  ' '  The  twenty-eight  stars 
formula."  ^ 

Divination  is  the  second  function  of  the  Pan-stif  and  con- 
sists in  a  forecast  of  the  future  by  means  of  rituals,  known  only 
to  himself,  associated  with  the  use  of  certain  paraphernalia. 
This  is  used  also  for  finding  out  the  result  of  a  venture,  or  the 
cause  of  an  existing  trouble,  and  for  casting  a  man's  horoscope, 
i.e.  "The  four  columns  of  a  man's  future,"  these  being  the 
hour,  day,  month,  and  year  of  his  birth,  or  rather  their  four 
combinations.  This  horoscope  is  the  crowning  function  of 
divination.  In  these  "four  columns"  the  secret  of  a  man's 
life  is  hidden,  and  their  relations  must  govern  him  in  all  his 
actions.  When  a  horoscope  contains  an  arrow,  which  denotes 
ill-luck,  the  Fan-sit  corrects  the  misfortune  by  formulae  used 
with  a  bow  of  peach,  with  which  during  the  recital  he  shoots 
arrows  made  of  a  certain  reed  into  a  "  non-prohibited  "  quar- 
ter. One  of  the  great  duties  of  divination  is  to  cast  the  horo- 
scope of  a  bride  and  bridegroom  for  an  auspicious  day  for  the 

J  The  twenty-eight  constellations,  or  stellar  mansions,  referred  to  in  the 
Shu  King,  one  of  the  Chinese  classical  books,  showing  the  close  connec- 
tion between  Chinese  and  Korean  superstition. — W.  C.  H. 


4o8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

wedding,  for  an  unlucky  one  would  introduce  daemons  to  the 
ruin  of  the  new  household. 

The  great  strongholds  of  divination  are  the  **  Frog-Boxes" 
and  dice  boxes,  manufactured  for  this  purpose.  The  frog  box 
is  made  like  a  tortoise,  having  movable  lips,  and  contains  three 
cash,  over  which  the  Pa7i-su  repeats  a  very  ancient  invocation, 
which  has  been  translated  thus  :  "  Will  all  you  people  grant 
to  reveal  the  symbols."  The  coins  are  thrown  three  times, 
and  the  three  falls  present  him  with  the  combinations  of 
characters,  out  of  which  he  manufactures  his  oracle.  The 
second  implement  of  divination  is  a  bamboo  or  brass  tube 
closed  at  both  ends,  but  with  a  small  hole  in  one  to  allow  of 
the  exit  of  small  bamboo  splinters  of  which  it  contains  eight. 
The  same  thing  is  to  be  seen  on  innumerable  altars  in  China. 
Each  splinter  has  from  one  to  eight  notches  on  it,  and  stands 
for  a  symbol  of  certain  signs  on  that  divining  table  3,000  years 
old,  called  the  Ho-pai,  which  is  implicitly  believed  in  by 
the  Chinese.  Two  of  these  splinters  give  two  sets  of  char- 
acters, eight  being  connected  with  each  symbol.  When  the 
Paii-su  has  obtained  these  he  is  ready  to  evolve  his  oracle. 

Great  reliance  is  placed  on  the  charms  which  the  Pan-su 
make  and  sell.  Proabably  there  are  few  adults  or  children 
who  do  not  wear  these  as  amulets.  They  are  generally  made 
in  the  form  of  insects,  or  consist  of  Chinese  characters.  They 
are  written  on  specially  prepared  yellow  paper  in  red  ink,  and 
are  regarded  as  being  efficacious  against  illness  and  other  ca- 
lamities. Amulets  are  made  of  the  wood  of  trees  struck  by 
lightning,  which  is  supposed  to  possess  magical  qualities. 
\ 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

NOTES    ON    D^MONISM    CONCLUDED 

THE  second  and  larger  division  of  the  Shamans  consists 
of  the  mu-tang.  Though  the  Pak-su  Mu^  who  are  in- 
cluded among  the  mu-tang,  are  men,  the  female  idea  prevails 
so  largely  that  these  wear  female  clothing  in  performing  their 
functions,  and  the  whole  class  has  the  name  of  mu-tang,  and 
is  spoken  of  as  female. 

The  mu-tang  is  universally  prevalent,  and  her  services  are 
constantly  and  everywhere  sought.  She  enters  upon  an  office 
regarded  as  of  high  importance  with  very  little  ceremonial,  re- 
quiring only  a  little  instruction  from  some  one  who  has  prac- 
tised magic,  and  the  "  supernatural  call."  This  call,  of  which 
much  is  made,  consists  in  the  assurance  of  dsemoniacal  posses- 
sion, the  daemon  being  supposed  to  seize  upon  the  woman,  and 
to  become  in  fact  her  doppe I  ganger,  so  completely  is  his  per- 
sonality superimposed  on  hers.  The  daemon  is  almost  inva- 
riably a  member  of  the  Korean  ''  DcEmoneon^  Mr.  Jones 
mentions  a  woman  who  claims  that  her  indwelling  daemon  is 
known  as  the  spirit  Chil-song  Shin,  supposed  to  come  from  the 
constellation  of  Ursa  Major,  and  he  brought  with  him  a  legion 
of  other  daemons,  from  which  the  mu-tang  derive  their  honorific 
title,  Man-shin,  a  Legion  of  Spirits.  This  woman  in  her  early 
married  life  was  ill  for  three  years,  and  had  frequent  visions 
of  the  spirit,  and  heard  but  resisted  the  "call."  When  at 
last  she  yielded  she  was  immediately  cured,  and  was  received 
into  favor  with  the  spirit ! 

On  obeying  a  daemon  call  the  woman  snaps  every  tie  of  cus- 
tom or  relationship,  deserts  parents,  husband,  or  children,  and 

409 


410  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

obeys  the  ''call"  alone.  Her  position  from  that  hour  is  a 
peculiar  one,  for  while  she  is  regarded  as  indispensable  to  the 
community  she  is  socially  an  outcast.  In  the  curious  relations 
of  the  Shamanate,  the  Pan-su  is  obviously  the  Master  of  the 
Daemons,  gaining  power  by  cabalistic  formulae  or  ritual  to  drive 
them  off,  or  even  bury  them,  while  the  mu-tafig  supplicates 
and  propitiates  them.  It  is  impossible  to  live  in  a  place  which 
has  not  a  7nu-fang  Shaman. 

The  functions  of  the  mu-tang  are  more  varied  than  those  of 
the  Pan-su,  but  on  a  par  with  his  exorcisms  may  be  placed  her 
Kauts  or  Pacifications  and  Propitiations  of  daemons,  which 
are  divided  into  the  occasional  and  periodic,  the  latter  being 
Daemon  Festivals,  one  public  the  other  private.  The  public 
one  is  a  triennial  festa  celebrated  either  by  a  large  village  or 
by  an  aggregation  of  hamlets,  and  occupies  three  or  four  days. 
Its  object  is  the  tutelary  daemon  of  the  neighborhood,  and  its 
methods  are  sacrifice,  petition,  worship,  and  thanksgiving. 
The  villagers  choose  two  of  their  number  to  take  entire  charge 
of  the  festival,  and  by  them  a  tax  for  expenses  is  levied  on  the 
vicinity.  They  also  choose  the  festival  day,  hire  the  7jm-tang, 
and  arrange  for  the  paraphernalia  and  the  offerings  to  the 
daemons.  It  is  essential  that  the  festival  day  should  be  chosen 
by  divination,  by  either  a  S'dn-li  or  a  Pan-su  acquainted  with 
magic,  and  that  the  sorcerers  should  bathe  frequently  and  ab- 
stain from  animal  food  for  seven  previous  days. 

Tlie  village  daemon  festival  has  a  resemblance  at  some  points 
to  the  Shinto  matsiiri  of  Japan.  On  the  festa  day  a  booth, 
much  decorated  with  tags  of  brilliant  color,  is  erected  near 
the  daemons'  shrine,  and  with  an  accompaniment  of  mu-tang 
music,  dancing,  and  lavish  and  outlandish  gesticulations,  the 
offerings  are  presented  to  the  spirits.  The  popular  belief  is 
that  the  daemons  become  incarnate  in  the  mu-tang,  who  utter 
oracles  called  Kong-su  Na-ta,  and  the  people  bring  them  bowls 
of  uncooked  rice,  and  plead  for  a  revelation  of  their  future 
during  the  following  three  years.     A  common  *'test"  at  this 


Notes  on  Dsemonism  Concluded         411 

festival  is  the  burning  a  tube  of  very  thin  white  paper  in  a 
bowl.  Its  upper  end  is  lighted  by  the  mu-tang^  who  recites 
her  spells  as  it  burns.  When  it  reaches  the  rim  of  the  bowl, 
if  the  augury  for  the  future  be  unfavorable,  the  paper  burns 
away  in  the  bowl,  if  favorable,  the  paper  lifts  itself  and  is 
blown  away. 

The  private /<fj-/^,  the  Chol-muri  Kaiif,  one  of  thanksgiving 
to  the  household  daemons,  is  necessary  to  secure  a  continuance 
of  their  good  offices.  The  expenditure  of  the  family  resources 
on  this  occasion  is  so  lavish  as  frequently  to  impoverish  the 
household  for  a  whole  year.  This  festa  may  be  biennial  or 
triennial.  At  the  time  a  pig  is  sacrificed,  offerings  are  made, 
tmt-tang  2,xt  hired,  and  the  fetishes  of  the  daemons  are  renewed 
or  cleaned.  The  Ritual  for  these  occasions,  if  unabbreviated, 
lasts  several  days,  but  among  the  poor  only  a  selection  from  it 
is  used.  Its  stages  consist  of  rituals  of  invocation,  petition, 
offering,  and  purification.  While  these  are  being  recited  a 
household  spirit  becomes  incarnate  in  the  mti-tang,  and  through 
her  makes  oracular  revelations  of  the  future.  At  another  stage 
deceased  parents  and  ancestors  appear  in  the  mti-tangj  and  her 
personation  of  them  is  described  by  an  eyewitness  as  both 
"pathetic  and  ludicrous."  At  Seoul  this  festival  is  observed 
by  families  at  the  daemon  shrines  outside  the  city  walls,  and 
not  in  private  houses. 

One  of  the  very  common  occasions  which  requires  the  pres- 
ence of  a  mu-tang  is  the  ceremonial  known  as  the  Rite  of  Pu- 
rification, defilement  being  contracted  by  a  birth  or  death  or 
any  action  which  brings  in  an  unclean  daemon,  whose  obnox- 
ious entrance  moves  the  guardian  or  friendly  daemons  to  leave 
the  house.  A  wand  cut  from  a  pine  tree  to  the  east  of  the 
house  is  used  to  bring  about  their  return.  It  is  set  working 
by  the  muttered  utterance  of  special  spells  or  formulae  by  the 
mu-tang f  the  mont-gari,  or  tutelary  spirit  is  found,  and  by 
means  of  prayers  and  offerings  is  induced  to  resume  his  place, 
and  the  unclean  daemon  is  exorcised  and  expelled.     The  beat- 


412  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ing  of  a  drum  and  the  frequent  sprinkling  of  pure  water  are 
portions  of  this  rite. 

The  utterance  of  oracles  is  another  great  function  of  the  mu- 
tang.  In  spite  of  the  low  opinion  of  women  held  by  the  Ko- 
reans, so  strong  is  the  belief  in  the  complete  daemoniacal  pos- 
session of  the  mu-fang,  and  their  consequent  elevation  above 
their  sex,  that  the  Koreans  refer  fully  as  much  to  them  as  to 
the  Pan-su  for  information  regarding  the  outcome  of  commer- 
cial ventures,  and  of  projects  of  personal  advancement,  as  well 
as  for  the  hidden  causes  of  the  loss  of  wealth  or  position,  or 
of  adversity  or  illness.  The  mu-ta7tg,  by  an  appeal  to  her 
familiar  daemon,  in  some  cases  obtains  a  direct  answer,  and  in 
others  a  reply  by  the  divining  chime,  or  the  rice  divination. 
The  latter  consists  of  throwing  down  some  grains  of  rice  on  a 
table  and  noting  the  combinations  which  result.  The  ''  divin- 
ing chime"  is  a  hazel  wand  with  a  circle  of  bells  at  one  end. 
These  are  shaken  violently  by  the  imi-tang,  and  in  the  din 
thus  created  she  hears  the  utterance  of  the  daemon. 

The  arranging  for  the  sale  of  children  to  daemons  is  a 
farther  function  of  the  mti-tang,  and  is  carried  on  to  a  very 
great  extent.  The  Korean  father  desires  prosperity  and  long 
life  for  his  boy  (a  girl  being  of  little  account),  and  the  sale  of 
the  child  to  a  spirit  is  he  believes  the  best  way  of  attaining 
his  object.  When  the  so-called  sale  has  been  decided  on,  the 
father  consults  the  sorceress  as  to  when  and  where  it  shall  be 
made.  The  place  chosen  is  usually  a  boulder  near  home,  and 
the  child  is  there  "  consecrated  "  to  the  daemon  by  the  imi- 
tang  with  fitting  rites.  Thenceforward,  on  the  15th  day  of 
the  ist  moon,  and  the  3rd  day  of  the  3rd  moon,  worship  and 
sacrifice  are  offered  to  the  boulder.  After  this  act  of  sale  the 
name  of  the  daemon  becomes  part  of  the  boy's  name.  It  is 
not  an  unusual  thing  for  the  sale  to  be  made  to  the  mu-tang 
herself,  who  as  the  proxy  of  her  daemon  accepts  the  child  in 
case  she  learns  by  a  magic  rite  that  she  may  do  so.  She  takes 
in  its  stead  one  of  its  rice  bowls  and  a  spoon,  and  these,  to- 


Notes  on  Daemonism  Concluded         413 

gether  with  a  piece  of  cotton  cloth  on  which  the  facts  concern- 
ing the  sale  of  the  child  are  written,  are  laid  up  in  her  own 
house  in  the  room  devoted  to  her  daemon.  There  is  a  famous 
mu-tang,  whose  house  I  have  been  in  just  outside  the  south 
gate  of  Seoul,  who  has  many  of  these,  which  are  placed  on 
tables  below  the  painted  daubs  of  daemons  ordinarily,  but 
which,  on  great  occasions,  are  used  as  banners.  At  the  Peri- 
odic Festivals  offerings  are  made  on  behalf  of  these  children, 
who,  though  they  live  with  their  parents,  know  the  sorceress 
or  mu-taiig  as  Shin,  and  are  considered  her  children. 

The  mu-tang  rites  are  specially  linked  with  the  house  d^mon 
and  with  Mama  the  smallpox  daemon.  The  house  daemon  is 
on  the  whole  a  good  one,  being  supposed  to  bring  health  and 
happiness,  and  if  invited  with  due  ceremony  he  is  willing  to 
take  up  his  abode  under  every  roof.  He  cannot  always  keep 
off  disease,  and  in  the  case  of  contagious  fevers,  etc.,  he  dis- 
appears until  the  rite  of  purification  has  been  accomplished 
and  he  has  been  asked  to  return.  The  ceremonies  attending 
his  recall  deserve  notice.  On  this  great  occasion  the  mu-tang 
in  ofiice  ties  a  large  sheet  of  paper  round  a  rod  of  oak,  holds 
it  upright,  and  goes  out  to  hunt  him.  She  may  find  him  near, 
as  if  waiting  to  be  invited  back,  or  at  a  considerable  distance, 
but  in  either  case  he  makes  his  presence  known  by  shaking 
the  rod  so  violently  that  several  men  cannot  hold  it  still,  and 
then  returns  with  the  mit-ta7ig  to  the  house,  where  he  is  re- 
ceived with  lively  demonstrations  of  joy.  The  paper  which 
was  round  the  stick  is  folded,  a  few  cash  are  put  into  it,  it  is 
soaked  in  wine,  and  is  then  thrown  up  against  a  beam  in  the 
house  to  which  it  sticks,  and  is  followed  by  some  rice  which 
adheres  to  it.  That  special  spot  is  the  abiding  place  of  the 
daemon.  This  ceremony  involves  a  family  in  very  consider- 
able expense. 

The  universal  belief  that  illness  is  the  work  of  daemons  ren- 
ders the  services  of  a  Pan-su  or  mu-tang  necessary  wherever  it 
enters  a  house,  and  in  the  case  of  smallpox,  the  universal 


414  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

scourge  of  Korean  childhood,  the  daemon,  instead  of  being  ex- 
orcised, bottled,  or  buried,  is  treated  with  the  utmost  respect. 
The  name  by  which  the  disease  is  called,  ^^  Mama,'"  is  the 
daemon's  name.  It  is  said  that  he  came  from  South  China, 
and  has  only  infested  Korea  for  1,000  years.  On  the  disease 
appearing,  the  mu-tang  is  called  in  to  honor  the  arrival  of  the 
spirit  with  a  feast  and  fitting  ceremonial.  Little  or  no  work  is 
done,  and  if  there  are  neighbors  whose  children  have  not  had 
the  malady,  they  rest  likewise,  lest,  displeased  with  their  want 
of  respect,  he  should  deal  hardly  with  them.  The  parents  do 
obeisance  (worship)  to  the  suffering  child,  and  address  it  at  all 
times  in  honorific  terms.  Danger  is  supposed  to  be  over  after 
the  1 2th  day,  when  the  mu-tang  is  again  summoned,  and  a 
farewell  banquet  is  given.  A  miniature  wooden  horse  is  pre- 
pared, and  is  loaded  for  the  spirit's  journey  with  small  bags  of 
food  and  money,  fervent  and  respectful  adieus  are  spoken,  and 
he  receives  hearty  good  wishes  for  his  prosperous  return  to  his 
own  place ! 

In  the  course  of  many  centuries  the  office  of  the  mu-tang 
has  undergone  considerable  modification.  Formerly  her  power 
consisted  in  the  foretelling  of  events  by  the  movements  of  a 
turtle  on  the  application  of  hot  iron  to  his  back,  and  by  the 
falling  of  a  leaf  of  certain  trees.  Her  present  vocation  is 
chiefly  mediatorial.  It  is  also  becoming  partially  hereditary, 
her  daughter  or  even  daughter-in-law  taking  up  her  work. 
The  "  call"  is  considered  a  grave  calamity.  Ordinarily  these 
women  are  of  the  lower  class.  They  are  frequently  worship- 
pers of  Buddha,  after  the  gross  and  debased  cult  which  exists 
in  Korea,  and  place  his  picture  along  with  those  of  the  dae- 
mons in  the  small  temples  in  their  houses. 

Taking  the  male  and  female  Shamanate  together,  the  Sha- 
7tians  possess  immense  power  over  the  people,  from  the  clever 
and  ambitious  Korean  queen,  who  resorted  constantly  to  the 
Pan-su  on  behalf  of  the  future  of  the  Crown  Prince,  down  to 
the  humblest  peasant  family.     They  are  in  intimate  contact 


Notes  on  Doemonism  Concluded         415 

with  the  people  in  all  times  of  difficulty  and  affliction,  their 
largest  claims  are  conceded,  and  they  are  seldom  out  of  em- 
ployment. 

The  daemons  whose  professed  servants  the  Shamans  are,  and 
whose  yoke  lies  heavy  on  Korea,  are  rarely  even  mythical  be- 
ings, who  might  possibly  have  existed  in  human  shape.  They 
are  legion.  They  dwell  in  all  matter  and  pervade  all  space. 
They  are  a  horde  without  organization,  destitute  of  genus, 
species,  and  classification,  created  out  of  Korean  superstitions, 
debased  Buddhism,  and  Chinese  mythical  legend.  There 
have  been  no  native  attempts  at  their  arrangement,  and  what- 
ever has  been  done  in  this  direction  is  due  to  the  labors  of  Mr. 
G.  H.  Jones  and  Dr.  Landis,  from  whose  lists  a  few  may  be 
chosen  as  specimens. 

The  0-ba7ig-chang-kun  are  five,  and  some  of  the  more  impor- 
tant preside  over  East  Heaven,  South,  West,  North,  and  Middle. 
In  Shaman's  houses  shrines  are  frequently  erected  to  them, 
bearing  their  collective  name  to  which  worship  is  paid.  They 
are  held  in  high  honor  and  are  prominent  in  Pan-su  rites.  At 
the  entrance  of  many  villages  on  the  south  branch  of  the  Han 
the  villagers  represent  them  by  posts  with  tops  rudely  carved 
into  hideous  caricatures  of  humanity,  which  are  ofttimes  deco- 
rated with  straw  tassels,  and  receive  offerings  of  rice  and  fruit 
as  village  protectors. 

The  Shin-chang  are  daemon  generals  said  to  number  80,000, 
each  one  at  the  head  of  a  daemon  host.  They  fill  the  earth 
and  air,  and  are  specially  associated  with  the  Pan-stt,  who  are 
capable  of  summoning  them  by  magic  formulae  to  aid  in  divi- 
nation and  exorcism.  Shrines  to  single  members  of  this  mili- 
tant host  occur  frequently  in  Central  Korea,  each  one  contain- 
ing a  highly-colored  daub  of  a  gigantic  mediaeval  warrior,  and 
the  words,  "  I,  the  Spirit — dwell  in  this  place." 

The  Tok-gabi  are  the  most  dreaded  and  detested,  as  well  as 
the  best  known  of  all  the  daemon  horde.  Yet  they  seem  non- 
descripts, and  careful  and  patient  examination  has  only  sue- 


4i6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ceeded  in  relegating  them  to  the  class  of  such  myths  as  the 
Will  o'  the  Wisp,  and  Jack  o'  Lantern,  elevated,  however,  in 
Korea  to  the  status  of  genuine  devils  with  fetishes  of  their 
own.  They  are  regarded  as  having  human  originals  in  the 
souls  of  those  who  have  come  to  sudden  or  violent  ends.  They 
are  bred  on  execution  grounds  and  battlefields,  and  wherever 
men  perish  in  numbers.  They  go  in  overwhelming  legions, 
and  not  only  dwell  in  empty  houses  but  in  inhabited  villages, 
terrifying  the  inhabitants.  They  it  was  who,  by  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  fine  Audience  Hall  of  the  Mulberry  Palace  in' 
Seoul,  rendered  the  buildings  untenable,  frightful  tales  being 
told  and  believed  of  nocturnal  daemon  orgies  amidst  those 
doleful  splendors.  People  leave  their  houses  and  build  new 
ones  because  of  them.  Their  fetishes  may  be  such  things  as  a 
mapu^ s  hat  or  the  cloak  of  2iyamen  clerk,  rotten  with  age  and 
dirt,  enshrined  under  a  small  straw  booth.  Besides  the  devilry 
attributed  to  the  Tok-gabi  they  are  accused  of  many  pranks, 
such  as  placing  the  covers  of  iron  pots  inside  them,  and 
pounding  doors  and  windows  all  night,  till  it  seems  as  if  they 
would  be  smashed,  yet  leaving  no  trace  of  their  work. 

The  actually  unclean  spirits,  the  Sagem,  the  criminal  class 
of  the  vast  *^  DcBmoneon^^^  infest  Korean  life  like  vermin, 
wandering  about  embracing  every  opportunity  of  hurting  and 
molesting  man.  Against  these  both  Pan-su  and  um-tang  wage 
continual  war  by  their  enchantments,  the  Pan-su  by  their  ex- 
orcisms, either  driving  them  off  or  catching  them  and  burying 
them  in  disgrace,  while  the  mu-tang  propitiate  them  and  send 
them  off  in  honor. 

Another  great  group  of  daemons  is  the  San-Shin  Ryong — the 
spirits  of  the  mountains.  I  found  their  shrines  in  all  the  hilly 
country,  along  both  branches  of  the  Han,  by  springs  and 
streams,  and  specially  under  the  shade  of  big  trees,  and  on 
ampelopsis  covered  rocks,  a  flat  rock  being  a  specially  appro- 
priate site  from  its  suitability  for  an  altar,  and  thus  specially 
**  fortunate."     The  daemon  who  is  the  tutelary  spirit  of  ^/;/- 


^  Notes  on  Dsemonism  Concluded         417 

seng,  the  most  valuable  export  of  Korea,  is  greatly  honored. 
So  also  is  the  patron  daemon  of  deer  hunters,  who  is  invari- 
ably represented  in  his  shrine  as  a  fierce  looking  elderly  man 
in  official  dress  riding  a  tiger.  Surrounding  him  are  altars  to 
his  harem,  and  there  are  also  female  demons,  mountain  spirits, 
who  are  pictured  as  women,  frequently  Japanese. 

The  tiger  which  abounds  in  Central  and  Northern  Korea  is 
understood  to  be  the  confidential  servant  of  these  mountain 
daemons,  and  when  he  commits  depredations,  the  people,  be- 
lieving the  daemon  of  the  vicinity  to  be  angry,  hurry  with 
offerings  to  his  nearest  shrine.  The  Koreans  consider  it  a 
good  omen  when  they  see  in  their  dreams  the  mountain  dae- 
mon, either  as  represented  in  his  shrine,  or  under  the  form  of 
his  representative,  the  tiger.  These  mountain  daemons  are 
specially  sought  by  recluses,  and  people  ofttimes  retire  into 
solitary  mountain  glens,  where  by  bathing,  fasting,  and  offer- 
ings they  strive  to  gain  their  favor.  These  spirits,  believed  to 
be  very  powerful,  are  much  feared  by  farmers,  and  by  villagers 
living  near  high  mountains.  They  think  that  if  when  they  are 
out  on  the  hillsides  cutting  wood  they  forgot  to  cast  the  first 
spoonful  of  rice  from  the  bowl  to  the  daemon,  they  will  be 
punished  by  a  severe  fall  or  cut,  or  some  other  accident. 
These  spirits  are  capricious  and  exacting,  and  for  every  little 
neglect  take  vengeance  on  the  members  of  a  farmer's  household 
or  on  his  crops  or  cattle. 

The  Long-shin^  or  Dragon  daemons,  are  water  spirits. 
They  have  no  shrines,  but  the  Shamans  conduct  a  somewhat 
expensive  ceremony  by  the  sea  and  riversides  in  which  they 
present  them  with  offerings  for  the  repose  of  the  souls  of 
drowned  persons. 

The  phase  of  Daemonolatry  which  is  the  most  common  and 
the  first  to  arrest  a  traveller's  attention  is  also  the  most  obscure. 
The  Sojtg  Whoafig  Dan  (altar  of  the  Holy  Prince),  the  great 
Korean  altar,  rudely  built  of  loose  stones  under  the  shade  of  a 
tree,  from  the  branches  of  which  are  suspended  such  worthless 


41 8  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

ex  votos  as  strips  of  paper,  rags,  small  bags  of  rice,  old  clouts, 
and  worn-out  shoes,  look  less  like  an  altar  than  a  decaying 
cairn  of  large  size.^  A  peculiarity  of  the  Song  Whoang  Dan 
is  that  they  are  generally  supposed  to  be  frequented  by  various 
daemons,  though  occasionally  they  are  crowned  by  a  shrine  to 
a  single  spirit.  Korean  travellers  make  their  special  plea  to  a 
travellers'  daemon  who  is  supposed  to  be  found  there,  and  hang 
up  strips  of  their  goods  in  the  overhanging  branches,  and  the 
sailor  likewise  regards  the  altar  as  the  shrine  of  his  guardian 
daemon,  and  bestows  a  bit  of  old  rope  upon  it.  Further  than 
this,  when  some  special  bird  or  beast  has  destroyed  insects  in- 
jurious to  agriculture,  the  people  erect  a  shrine  to  it  on  these 
altars  or  cairns,  on  which  may  frequently  be  seen  the  rude 
daub  of  a  bird  or  animal. 

Two  spirits,  the  To-ti-chi  Shin  and  the  Cho7i-Shin,  are  re- 
garded as  local  daemons,  and  occupy  spots  on  the  mountain 
sides.  They  receive  worship  at  funerals,  and  a  sacrifice 
similar  to  that  offered  in  ancestral  worship  is  made  to  them 
before  the  body  is  laid  in  the  earth.  Two  Shamans  preside 
over  this,  and  one  of  them  intones  a  ritual  belonging  to  the 
occasion.  The  shrine  of  Chon-Shin  is  a  local  temple,  a  small 
decayed  erection  usually  found  outside  villages.  In  Seoul  he 
has  a  mud  or  plaster  shrine  is  which  his  picture  is  enshrined 
with  much  ceremony,  but  in  the  country  his  fetish  is  usually  a 
straw  booth  set  up  over  a  pair  of  old  shoes  under  a  tree.  For 
the  observances  connected  with  him  all  the  residents  in  a 
neighborhood  are  taxed.  He  may  be  regarded  as  the  chief 
daemon  in  every  district,  and  it  is  in  his  honor  that  the  mti- 
tang  celebrate  the  triennial  festival  formerly  described. 

The  Household  Spirits  are  the  last  division  of  the  Korean 
Dcemoneon.     Song  Ju,  the  spirit  of  the  ridge  pole  who  pre- 

'  Mr.  G.  H.  Jones  suggests  the  idea  that  these  uncouth  heap  of  stones 
were  originally  munitions  of  war  over  which  tutelary  daemons  were  sup- 
posed to  brood,  and  thinks  that  the  transition  to  an  altar  would  be  a  very 
natural  one. 


Notes  on  Die  monism  Concluded         419 

sides  over  the  home,  occupies  a  sort  of  imperial  position  with 
regard  to  the  other  household  spirits. 

His  fetish  consists  of  some  sheets  of  paper  and  a  paper  bag 
containing  as  many  spoonfuls  of  rice  as  the  household  is  years 
old  on  the  day  when  the  mii-tang  suspends  it  to  the  crossbeam 
of  the  house. 

The  ceremony  of  his  inauguration  was  conducted  as  follows 
in  the  case  of  a  householder  who  was  at  once  a  scholar,  a 
noble,  a  rich  man,  and  the  headman  of  a  large  village.  A 
lucky  day  having  been  chosen  by  divination,  the  noble,  after 
grading  the  site  for  his  house,  erected  the  framework,  and  with 
great  ceremony  attached  such  a  fetish,  duly  prepared  by  the 
Fan-su,  to  the  crossbeam.  Prostrations  and  invocations 
marked  this  stage.  When  the  building  of  the  house  was  com- 
pleted, an  auspicious  day  was  again  chosen  by  divination,  and 
a  great  ceremony  was  performed  by  the  mu-tang  for  the  en- 
shrining of  the  daemon  in  the  home.  The  //^?/-/rt';/^  arranged 
the  ceremonial  and  prepared  the  offerings,  and  then  with  a 
special  wand  only  used  on  these  occasions,  called  the  spirit  who 
is  supposed  to  be  under  her  control,  and  returning  to  the  house 
solemnly  enshrined  him  in  the  fetish,  to  which  it  is  correct  to 
add  a  fresh  sheet  of  paper  every  year.  After  Songju  was  sup- 
posed to  have  had  time  to  feed  spiritually  on  the  offerings,  they 
were  placed  before  the  guests,  and  a  great  entertainment  fol- 
lowed. 

Tiju,  or  the  lord  of  the  site,  is  the  next  great  daemon,  but 
investigations  regarding  him  have  been  very  resultless.  Little 
is  known,  except  that  offerings  are  presented  to  him  at  some 
spot  on  the  premises,  but  not  inside  the  house.  These  offer- 
ings, which  are  of  food,  are  made  on  the  ist,  2nd,  3rd,  and 
15th  of  each  month.  This  food  is  afterwards  eaten  by  the 
family,  and  a  continual  offering  is  represented  by  a  bit  of  cloth 
or  a  scrap  of  old  rope.  His  fetish  is  a  bundle  of  straw,  empty 
inside,  placed  on  three  sticks,  but  in  some  circumstances  a 
flower  pot  with  some  rice  inside  is  substituted. 


420  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Op  /u,  the  kitchen  daemon,  is  the  third  of  the  trio  which 
is  permanently  attached  to  the  house.  His  fetish  is  a 
piece  of  cloth  or  paper  nailed  to  the  wall  above  the  cooking 
place. 

After  these  come  the  daemons  who  are  attached  to  the  family 
and  not  the  house,  the  first  of  them  being  Cho  IVajig,  a  spirit 
of  the  constellation  of  the  Great  Bear,  a  very  popular  spirit. 
His  shrine  is  outside  the  wall,  and  his  fetish,  to  which  worship 
is  paid,  is  a  gourd  full  of  cloth  and  paper.  Cho  IVang  is  often 
the  daemon  familiar  of  a  mu-tang. 

Ti  Ju^  No.  2,  is  the  fate  or  luck  of  the  family,  and  every 
household  is  ambitious  to  secure  him.  His  fetish  is  a  straw 
booth  three  feet  high,  in  which  is  a  flower  pot  containing  some 
rice  covered  with  a  stone  and  paper. 

The  greatest  of  the  family  daemons  is  an  ancient  and  his- 
torical daemon,  Choi  Sok,  who  is  regarded  as  the  grandfather 
of  San  Chin-ch'oi  Sok,  the  daemon  of  nativity.  His  fetish,  un- 
less it  becomes  rotten  or  is  accidentally  destroyed,  descends 
from  father  to  sou.  He  has  several  fetishes,  and  when  he  re- 
ceives homage  at  the  Triennial  Festival,  the  mu-tang  puts  on 
the  dress  of  an  official.  He  is  the  daemon  of  nativity  and  the 
giver  of  posterity,  and  is  a  triple  daemon.  Korean  women 
hearing  of  the  Christian  Trinity  have  been  known  to  say  that 
Sail  chill  enables  them  to  understand  the  mystery  !  He  is  be- 
lieved to  have  the  control  of  all  children  up  to  the  age  of  four. 
He  avenges  ceremonial  defilement  such  as  the  sight  by  an  ex- 
pectant mother  of  a  mourner  or  a  dead  object,  and  outside  a 
house  where  there  has  been  a  recent  birth,  a  notice  warning 
visitors  not  to  enter  is  often  put  up  on  his  behalf.  He  imposes 
on  plebeian  mothers  a  period  of  seclusion  for  twenty-one  days 
after  a  birth,  but  for  noble  mothers  one  hundred  days,  for 
which  period  the  rays  of  the  sun  are  rigidly  excluded  from 
both  mother  and  child. 

Pa-mul,  the  daemon  of  riches,  is  the  Japanese  Daikoku  and 
the  British  Mainmon.     He  is  worshipped  in  the  granary,  and 


Notes  on  Dije monism  Concluded         421 

thanks  are  offered  to  him  as  well  as  petitions.  His  fetish  is  a 
paste  jar  set  up  on  two  decorated  bags  of  rice.  A  man  in 
Chemulpo,  now  a  Christian,  had  a  very  famous  fetish,  which 
was  originally  a  jar  of  beans,  but  these  were  changed  into  clear 
water,  and  a  mysterious  improvement  in  the  fortunes  of  the 
family  set  in  from  that  date,  the  jar  becoming  an  object  of 
grateful  worship.  One  day  it  was  found  broken  and  the  water 
lost,  and  from  that  time  his  fortunes  declined. 

Kol-lip  is  the  daemon  who  takes  charge  of  the  external  for- 
tunes of  the  family,  and  is  also  the  mercury  of  the  household 
daemons.  His  fetish  is  enshrined  over  the  gate  house,  and 
consists  of  a  mass  of  rubbish,  old  straw  shoes  for  wearing  on 
his  travels,  cash  for  spiritual  funds,  and  a  fragment  of  grass 
cloth  for  travelling  outfit.  There  is  also  the  daemon  of  the  gate 
whose  fetish  hangs  over  the  entrance. 

Dr.  Landis  has  classified  the  Korean  daemons  as  follows: — ^ 

Spirits  high  in  rank 

1.  Spirits  of  the  Heavens. 

2.  Spirits  of  the  Earth. 

3.  Spirits  of  the  Mountains  and  Hills. 

4.  Spirits  of  the  Dragons. 

5.  Guardian  Spirits  of  the  District. 

6.  Spirits  of  the  Buddhist  Faith  (?) 

Spirits  of  the  House 

7.  Spirit  of  the  ridge  pole.     This  is  the  chief  of  all  the  spirits  of  the 
House. 

8.  Spirit  of  goods  and  furniture. 

9.  Spirit  daemon  of  the  Yi  family. 

10.  Spirit  of  the  kitchen. 

11.  Attendant  spirits  of  No.  9. 

12.  Spirits  which  serve  one's  ancestors. 

13.  The  Guards  and  servants  of  No.  9. 

14.  The  Spirits  which  aid  jugglers. 

15.  Spirits  of  goods  and  chattels,  like  No,  8,  but  inferior  in  rank. 

16.  Spirits  of  smallpox. 

17.  Spirits  which  take  the  forms  of  animals. 


422  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

1 8.  Spirits  which  take  possession  of  young  girls  and  change  them  into 
exorcists. 

19.  Spirits  of  the  seven  stars  which  form  the  Dipper. 

20.  Spirits  of  the  house  site. 

Various  kinds  of  Spirits 

21.  Spirits  which  make  men  brave. 

22.  Spirits  which  reside  in  trees.  Any  gnarled  shrub  or  malformed 
tree  is  supposed  to  be  the  residence  of  one  of  these  spirits.  Spirits  v/hich 
cause  persons  to  meet  either  a  violent  death  or  to  die  young.  Any  one 
who  has  died  before  reaching  a  cycle  {i.e.  60  years)  is  supposed  to  have 
died  owing  to  the  influence  of  one  of  these  spirits.  It  is  needless  to  say 
that  they  are  all  evil. 

23.  Spirits  which  cause  tigers  to  eat  men. 

24.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  on  the  road. 

25.  Spirits  which  roam  about  the  house  causing  all  sorts  of  calamities. 

26.  Spirits  which  cause  a  man  to  die  away  from  home. 

27.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  as  substitutes  for  others. 

28.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  strangulation. 

29.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  drowning. 

30.  Spirits  which  cause  women  to  die  in  childbirth. 

31.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  suicide. 

32.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  fire. 

33.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  being  beaten. 

34.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  falls. 

35.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  pestilence. 

36.  Spirits  which  cause  men  to  die  by  cholera. 

The  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  the  performances  of  the  jnu- 
tang  is  enormous.  In  sickness  the  very  poor  half  starve  them- 
selves and  pawn  their  clothing  to  pay  for  her  exorcisms.  Her 
power  has  been  riveted  upon  the  country  for  hundreds,  if  not 
thousands,  of  years.  The  order  is  said  to  date  back  4,000 
years,  to  have  been  called  in  China,  where  it  was  under 
official  regulations,  mu-ham.  Five  hundred  years  ago  the 
founder  of  the  present  dynasty  prohibited  mu-tang  from  living 
within  the  walls  of  Seoul — hence  their  houses  and  temples  are 
found  outside  the  city  walls. 

Women  are  not  7nii-tang  by  birth,  but  of  late  years  it  has 
become  customary  for  the  girl  children  of  a  sorceress  to  go 


Notes  on  Dsemonism  Concluded         423 

out  with  her  and  learn  her  arts,  which  is  tending  to  give  the 
profession  a  hereditary  aspect.  It  is  now  recruited  partly  in 
this  fashion,  partly  from  among  hysterical  girls,  and  partly  for 
a  livelihood,  but  outside  of  these  sources,  a  daemon  may  take 
possession  of  any  woman,  wife,  maid,  or  widow,  rich  or  poor, 
plebeian  or  patrician,  and  compel  her  to  serve  him.  At  the'^^ 
beginning  of  the  possession  she  becomes  either  slightly  or 
seriously  ill,  and  her  illness  may  last  four  weeks  or  three  years, 
during  which  time  she  dreams  of  a  dragon,  a  rainbow,  peach 
trees  in  blossom,  or  of  a  man  in  armor  who  is  suddenly  meta- 
morphosed into  an  animal.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
dreams  she  becomes  like  an  insane  person,  and  when  awake 
sees  many  curious  things,  and  before  long  speaks  as  an  oracle 
of  the  spirits. 

She  then  informs  her  family  that  messengers  from  Heaven, 
Earth,  and  the  Lightning  have  informed  her  that  if  she  is  not 
allowed  to  practise  exorcism,  they  or  their  domestic  animals 
will  die.  Should  they  insist  on  secluding  her,  her  illness 
shortly  terminates  fatally.  If  a  daughter  of  a  noble  family 
becomes  possessed,  they  probably  make  away  with  her,  in  the 
idea  that  if  madness  takes  this  turn,  the  disgrace  would  be 
indelible. 

But  things  usually  go  smoothly,  and  on  being  allowed  to 
have  her  own  way  the  first  thing  she  does  is  to  go  into  a  vacant 
room  and  fill  it  with  flowers  as  an  offering  to  the  daemons. 
Then  she  must  obtain  the  clothing  and  professional  parapher^ 
nalia  of  a  deceased  mii-tang.  The  clothing  may  be  destroyed 
after  the  daemon  has  taken  full  possession  of  his  new  recruit, 
but  the  drums  and  other  instruments  must  be  retained.  After 
the  possessions  of  the  deceased  mu-tang  have  been  bestowed  on 
the  new  one  who  claims  them,  she  proceeds  to  exorcise  such 
bad  spirits  as  may  be  infesting  the  donor's  house,  so  as  to  en- 
able his  family  to  live  in  peace,  after  which  she  writes  his 
name  on  a  tablet,  and  placing  it  in  a  small  room  invokes  bless- 
ings on  him  for  three  years. 


424  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

After  this  ceremonial  has  been  observed  the  mii-tang,  fully 
possessed  by  a  daemon,  begins  to  exercise  her  very  important  and 
lucrative  profession.  Her  equipment  consists  of  a  number  of 
dresses,  some  of  them  very  costly,  a  drum  shaped  like  an  hour- 
glass, four  feet  in  length,  copper  cymbals,  a  copper  rod,  with 
tinklers  suspended  from  it  by  copper  chains,  strips  of  silk  and 
paper  banners  which  float  round  her  as  she  dances,  fans,  um- 
brellas, wands,  images  of  men  and  animals,  brass  or  copper 
gongs,  and  a  pair  of  telescope-shaped  baskets  for  scratching, 
chiefly  used  in  cases  of  cholera,  which  disease  is  supposed  to 
result  from  rats  climbing  about  in  the  human  interior.  The 
scratching  sound  made  by  a  peculiar  use  of  these  baskets, 
which  resembles  the  noise  made  by  cats,  is  expected  to  scare 
and  drive  away  these  rodents. 

The  preliminaries  of  exorcism  are  that  the  mu-tang  must 
subject  herself  to  certain  restraints  varying  from  a  month  to 
three  days,  during  which  time  she  must  abstain  from  flesh  and 
fish,  and  must  partially  fast.  Before  an  exorcism  ashes  are 
steeped  in  water  and  the  sorceress  takes  of  this,  and  sprinkles 
it  as  she  walks  round  the  house,  afterwards  taking  pure  water 
and  going  through  the  same  ceremony. 

The  almost  fabulous  sums  squeezed  by  the  mu-tang  out  of 
the  people  of  Seoul  are  given  in  a  previous  chapter.  It  will 
be  observed  that  in  Korea  sickness  is  always  associated  with 
daemoniacal  possession,  and  that  the  services  of  the  Pa7i-su^ 
or  mu-tangy  are  always  requisitioned,  European  medicine 
and  surgery  are  the  most  successful  assailants  of  this  barbarous 
and  degrading  system  which  holds  the  whole  nation,  in  many 
respects  highly  civilized,  in  bondage,  and  the  influence  of 
both  as  practised  in  connection  with  *' Medical  Missions"  is 
tending  increasingly  in  the  direction  of  emancipation. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  say  how  far  the  nw-tang  is  self- 
deceived.  In  some  of  her  dances,  especially  in  one  in  which 
she  exorcises  "  The  daemon  of  the  Yi  family,"  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  malignant  of  the  daemon  hierachy,  she 


Notes  on  Dsemonism  Concluded         425 

works  herself  into  such  a  delirious  frenzy  that  she  falls  down 
foaming  at  the  mouth,  and  death  is  occasionally  the  result  of 
the  frantic  excitement. 

The  *' Daemon  of  the  Yi  Family"  is  invoked  in  every  dis- 
trict once  in  three  years  by  the  mu-tafig  in  a  formula  which 
has  been  translated  thus — "Oh  Master  and  Mistress  of  our 
Kingdom,  may  you  ever  exist  in  peace.  Once  in  every  three 
years  we  invoke  you  with  music  and  dancing.  Oh  make  this 
house  to  be  peaceful."  If  this  malignant  spirit  arrives  at  a 
house  he  can  only  be  appeased  by  the  death  of  a  man,  an  ox, 
or  a  pig.  Therefore  when  the  mu-tang  becomes  aware  that  he 
has  come  to  a  house  or  neighborhood,  a  pig  is  at  once  killed, 
boiled,  and  offered  up  entire — the  exorcist  takes  two  knives 
and  dances  a  sword  dance,  working  herself  into  a  "fine 
frenzy,"  after  which  a  box  is  made  and  a  Korean  official  hat 
and  robes  are  placed  within  it,  as  well  as  a  dress  suitable  for  a 
palace  lady.  The  box  is  then  placed  on  the  top  of  the  family 
clothes  chest,  and  sacrifices  are  frequently  offered  there.  This 
daemon  is  regarded  as  the  spirit  of  a  rebellious  Crown  Prince, 
the  sole  object  of  whose  daemon  existence  is  to  injure  all  with 
whom  he  can  come  into  contact. 

A  man  sometimes  marries  a  mu-tang,  but  he  is  invariably  "a 
fellow  of  the  baser  sort,"  who  desires  to  live  in  idleness  on  the 
earnings  of  his  wife.  If,  as  is  occasionally  the  case,  the  mu- 
tang  belongs  to  a  noble  family,  she  is  only  allowed  to  exorcise 
spirits  in  her  own  house,  and  when  she  dies  she  is  buried  in  a 
hole  in  a  mountain  side  with  the  whole  paraphernalia  of  her 
profession.  Some  mu-tang  do  not  go  abroad  for  purposes  of 
exorcism.  These  may  be  regarded  as  the  aristocracy  of  their 
profession,  and  many  of  them  are  of  much  repute  and  live  in 
the  suburbs  of  Seoul.  Those  who  desire  their  services  send 
the  necessary  money  and  offerings,  and  the  viu-tang  exorcise 
the  spirits  in  their  own  houses. 

The  use  of  straw,  ropes,  and  of  pieces  of  paper  resembling 
the  Shinto  gohet,  during  incantations,  with  a  certain  similarity 


426  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

between  the  Shinto  and  the  Shaman  ceremonies,  might  suggest  a 
common  origin,  but  our  knowledge  of  the  Daemonism  of  Korea 
is  so  completely  in  its  infancy,  that  any  speculations  as  to  its 
kinships  can  be  of  little  value,  and  it  is  only  as  a  very  slight 
contribution  to  the  sum  of  knowledge  of  an  obscure  but  very 
interesting  subject,  that  I  venture  to  present  these  chapters  to 
my  readers. 

The  Koreans,  it  must  be  remarked,  have  no  single  word  for 
Daemonism  or  Shamanism.  The  only  phrase  in  use  to  express 
their  belief  in  daemons  who  require  to  be  propitiated  is,  Kiir- 
sin  wi  han-na7i  Kot  (the  worship  of  Spirits).  Piilto  is  Bud- 
dhism, Yuto  Confucianism,  and  Sd7ito  Taoism,  but  the  termi- 
nation 7b,  "  doctrine,"  has  not  yet  been  affixed  to  Daemonism. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

SEOUL   IN    1897* 

IT  was  midnight  when,  by  the  glory  of  an  October  full 
moon,  I  arrived  from  Chemulpo  at  the  foot  of  the  rugged 
slope  crowned  with  the  irregular,  lofty,  battlemented  city  wall 
and  picturesque  double-roofed  gateway  of  the  Gate  of  Staunch 
Loyalty  which  make  the  western  entrance  to  the  Korean  capital 
so  unique  and  attractive.  An  arrangement  had  been  made  for 
the  opening  of  the  gate,  and  after  a  long  parley  between  the 
faithful  Im  and  the  guard,  the  heavy  iron-bolted  door  creaked 
back  before  the  united  efforts  of  ten  men,  and  I  entered  Seoul, 
then  under  the  authority  of  Ye  Cha  Yun,  an  energetic  and  en- 
lightened Governor,  under  whose  auspices  the  western  part  of 
the  city  has  lost  the  refuse  heaps  and  foulness,  with  their  con- 
comitant odors,  which  were  its  chief  characteristic.  In  the 
streets  and  lanes  not  a  man,  dog,  or  cat  stirred,  and  not  a  light 
glimmered  from  any  casement ;  but  when  I  reached  Chong- 
dong,  the  foreign  quarter,  I  observed  that  the  lower  extremity 
of  every  road  leading  in  the  direction  of  the  Russian  Legation 
was  irregularly  guarded  by  several  slouching  Korean  sentries, 
gossiping  in  knots  as  they  leaned  on  their  rifles. 

The  grounds  of  my  host's  house  open  on  those  of  the  King's 
new  palace,  and  the  King  and  Crown  Prince,  attended  by 
large  retinues,  were  constantly  carried  through  them  on  their 
way  from  their  asylum  in  the  Russian  Legation  to  perform  the 

il  left  Korea  for  China  at  Christmas,  1895,  ^^^  ^^^^^  spending  six 
months  in  travelling  in  the  Chinese  Far  West,  and  three  months  among 
the  Nan-tai  San  mountains  in  Japan,  returned  in  the  middle  of  October, 
1896,  and  remained  in  Seoul  until  late  in  the  winter  of  1896-97. 

427 


428  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

customary  rites  at  the  spirit  shrine,  to  which  the  fragmentary 
remains  of  the  murdered  Queen  had  been  removed,  to  wait  until 
the  geomancers  could  decide  on  an  '^  auspicious  "  site  for  her 
grave,  the  one  which  had  been  prepared  for  her  at  an  enormous 
expense  some  miles  outside  the  city  having  just  been  pro- 
nounced "unlucky." 

A  few  days  after  my  arrival  the  King  went  to  the  Kyeng- 
wun  Palace  to  receive  a  Japanese  prince,  and  courteously  ar- 
ranged to  give  me  an  audience  afterwards,  to  which  I  went, 
attended,  as  on  the  last  occasion,  by  the  British  Legation  in- 
terpreter. The  entrances  were  guarded  by  a  number  of  slouch- 
ing sentries  in  Japanese  uniforms.  Their  hair,  which  had 
been  cropped  at  the  time  of  the  abolition  of  the  "topknot," 
had  grown  again,  and  hung  in  heavy  shocks  behind  their  ears, 
giving  them  a  semi -barbarous  appearance.  At  the  second  gate  I 
alighted,  no  chair  being  permitted  to  enter,  and  walked  to  a 
very  simple  audience  hall,  then  used  for  the  first  time,  about 
20  feet  by  12  feet,  of  white  wood,  with  lattice  doors  and  win- 
dows, both  covered  with  fine  white  paper,  and  with  fine  white 
mats  on  the  floor. 

The  King  and  Crown  Prince,  both  of  whom  were  in  deep 
mourning,  i.e.  in  pure  white  robes  with  sleeveless  dresses  of 
exquisitely  fine  buff  grass-cloth  over  them,  and  fine  buff  crino- 
line hats,  stood  together  at  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  sur- 
rounded by  eunuchs,  court  ladies,  including  the  reigning 
favorites,  the  ladies  Pak  and  Orn,  and  Court  functionaries,  all 
in  mourning,  the  whole  giving  one  an  impression  of  absolute 
spotlessness.  The  waists  of  the  voluminous  white  skirts  of  the 
ladies,  which  are  a  yard  too  long  for  them  all  round,  were  as 
high  up  as  it  is  possible  to  place  them. 

The  King  and  Crown  Prince  bowed  and  smiled.  I  made 
the  required  three  curtseys  to  each,  and  the  interpreter  adopted 
the  deportment  required  by  Court  etiquette,  crouching,  looking 
down,  and  speaking  in  an  awe-struck  whisper.  I  had  not  seen 
the  King  for  two  years,  a  period  of  great  anxiety  and  vicissi- 


Seoul  in   1897  4^9 

tude  to  him,  but  he  was  not  looking  worn  or  older,  and  when 
I  congratulated  him  on  his  personal  security  and  the  assump- 
tion of  his  regal  functions  he  expressed  himself  cordially  in 
reply,  with  an  air  of  genuine  cheerfulness.  In  the  brief  con- 
versation which  followed  the  Crown  Prince  took  part,  and 
showed  a  fair  degree  of  intelligence,  as  well  as  a  much  im- 
proved physique. 

Later  I  had  two  informal  audiences  of  the  King  in  his  house 
in  the  centre  of  the  mass  of  the  new  buildings  of  the  Kyeng- 
wun  Palace.  It  is  a  detached  Korean  dwelling  of  the  best 
Korean  workmanship,  with  a  deep-eaved,  tiled  roof,  the  carved 
beams  of  which  are  elaborately  painted,  and  their  terminals 
decorated  with  the  five-petalled  plum  blossom,  the  dynastic  em- 
blem. The  house  consists  of  a  hall  with  a  kang  floor,  divided 
into  one  large  and  two  small  rooms  by  sliding  and  removable 
partitions  of  fretwork,  filled  in  wdth  fine  tissue  paper,  the  win- 
dows which  occupy  the  greater  part  of  both  sides  being  of  the 
same  construction.  The  very  small  rooms  at  each  end  are  in- 
dicated as  the  sleeping  apartments  of  the  King  and  his  son  by 
pale  blue  silk  mattresses  laid  upon  the  fine  white  mats  which 
cover  the  whole  floor.  The  only  furniture  was  two  ten-leaved 
white  screens.  The  fastenings  of  the  windows  and  partitions 
are  of  very  fine  Korean  brasswork.  Simplicity  could  not  go 
further. 

Opposite  is  the  much-adorned  spirit  shrine  of  the  late  Queen, 
connected  with  the  house  by  a  decorated  gallery.  The  inner 
palace  enclosure,  where  these  buildings  are,  is  very  small,  and 
behind  the  King's  house  rises  into  a  stone  terrace.  Numerous 
as  is  the  King's  guard,  it  is  evident  that  he  fears  to  rely  upon 
it  solely,  for  of  two  gates  leading  from  his  house  one  opens  into 
quarters  occupied  by  Russian  officers,  who  arrived  in  Seoul  in 
the  autumn  of  1890,  at  the  King's  request,  for  purposes  of  mili- 
tary organization  ;  and  the  other  into  small  barracks  occupied 
by  the  Russian  drill  instructors  of  the  Korean  army.  Through 
the  former  he  could  reach  the  grounds  of  the  English  Legation 


430  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

in  one  minute,  and  after  his  former  experiences  possibilities  of 
escape  must  be  his  first  consideration.  The  small  buildings  of 
this  new  palace  were  already  crowded  like  a  rabbit  warren, 
and  when  completed  will  contain  over  i,ooo  people,  includ- 
ing the  bodyguard,  eunuchs,  and  Court  officials  innumerable, 
writers,  readers,  palace  ladies,  palace  women,  and  an  immense 
establishment  of  cooks,  runners,  servants,  and  all  the  supera- 
bundant and  useless  entour  ge  of  an  Eastern  Sovereign,  to  whom 
crowds  and  movement  represent  power.  This  congeries  of 
buildings  was  carefully  guarded,  and  even  the  Korean  soldier 
who  attended  on  me  was  not  allowed  to  pass  the  gate. 

The  King  had  given  me  permission  to  take  his  photograph 
for  Queen  Victoria,  and  I  was  arranging  the  room  for  the  pur- 
pose when  the  interpreter  shouted  "  His  Majesty,"  and  almost 
before  I  could  step  back  and  curtsey,  the  King  and  Crown 
Prince  entered,  followed  by  the  Officers  of  the  Household  and 
several  of  the  Ministers,  a  posse  of  the  newfangled  police 
crowding  the  veranda  outside.  The  Sovereign,  always  cour- 
teous, asked  if  I  would  like  to  take  one  of  the  portraits  in  his 
royal  robes.  The  rich  crimson  brocade  and  the  gold  embroid- 
ered plastrons  on  his  breast  and  shoulders  became  him  well, 
and  his  pose  was  not  deficient  in  dignity.  He  took  some 
trouble  to  arrange  the  Crown  Prince  to  the  best  advantage  but 
the  result  was  unsuccessful.  After  the  operation  was  over  he 
examined  the  different  parts  of  the  camera  with  interest,  and 
seemed  specially  cheerful. 

At  a  farewell  audience  some  weeks  later  the  King  reverted 
to  the  subject  of  a  British  Minister,  accredited  solely  to  Korea; 
and  the  interpreter  added,  as  an  aside,  ''  His  Majesty  is  very 
anxious  about  this."  He  hardly  seemed  to  realize  that  even  if 
a  change  in  the  representation  were  contemplated,  it  could 
scarcely  be  carried  out  while  Sir  Claude  Macdonald,  who  is 
accredited  to  both  Courts,  remains  Minister  at  Peking. 

The  King  was  for  more  than  a  year  the  guest  of  the  Russian 
Legation,  an  arrangement  most  distasteful  to  a  large  number 


THE  KING  OF  KOREA. 


Seoul  in    1897  43 1 

of  his  subjects,  who  naturally  regarded  it  as  a  national  humili- 
ation that  their  Sovereign  should  be  under  the  protection  of  a 
foreign  flag.  Rumors  of  plots  for  removing  him  to  the  Palace 
from  which  he  escaped  were  rife,  and  there  were  days  on  which 
he  feared  to  visit  the  Queen's  tablet-house  unless  Russian  offi- 
cers walked  beside  his  chair. 

Mr.  Waeber,  the  Russian  Minister,  had  then  been  in  Korea 
twelve  years.  He  is  an  able  and  faithful  servant  of  Russia. 
He  was  trusted  by  the  King  and  the  whole  foreign  community, 
and  up  to  the  time  of  the  Hegira  had  been  a  warm  and  judi- 
cious friend  of  the  Koreans.  His  guidance  might  have  pre- 
vented the  King  from  making  infamous  appointments  and  arbi- 
trary arrests,  from  causelessly  removing  officials  who  were  work- 
ing well,  and  from  such  reckless  extravagances  as  a  costly 
Embassy  to  the  European  Courts  and  a  foolish  increase  of  the 
army  and  police  force.  But  he  remained  passive,  allowing  the 
Koreans  to  "stew  in  their  own  juice,"  acting  possibly  under 
orders  from  home  to  give  Korea  ''rope  enough  to  hang  her- 
self," a  proceeding  which  might  hereafter  give  Russia  a  legiti- 
mate excuse  for  interference.  Apart  from  such  instructions,  it 
must  remain  an  inscrutable  mystery  why  so  excellent  a  man 
and  so  capable  a  diplomatist  when  absolutely  master  of  the 
situation  neglected  to  aid  the  Sovereign  with  his  valuable  ad- 
vice, a  course  which  would  have  met  with  the  cordial  approval 
of  all  his  colleagues. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  liberty  which  the  King  has  enjoyed 
at  the  Russian  Legation  and  since  has  not  been  for  the  advan- 
tage of  Korea,  and  recent  policy  contrasts  unfavorably  with 
that  pursued  during  the  period  of  Japanese  ascendency,  which, 
on  the  whole,  was  in  the  direction  of  progress  and  righteous- 
ness. 

Old  abuses  cropped  up  daily.  Ministers  and  other  favorites 
sold  offices  unblushingly,  and  when  specific  charges  were  made 
against  one  of  the  King's  chief  favorites,  the  formal  demand 
for  his  prosecution  was  met  by  making  him  Vice-Minister  of 


432  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

Education  !  The  King,  freed  from  the  control  of  the  muti- 
nous officers  and  usurping  Cabinet  of  8th  October,  1895,  from 
the  Queen's  strong  though  often  unscrupulous  guidance,  and 
from  Japanese  ascendency,  and  finding  himself  personally  safe, 
has  reverted  to  some  of  the  worst  traditions  of  his  dynasty, 
and  in  spite  of  certain  checks  his  edicts  are  again  law  and  his 
will  absolute.  And  it  is  a  will  at  the  mercy  of  any  designing 
person  who  gets  hold  of  him  and  can  work  upon  his  fears  and 
his  desire  for  money — of  the  ladies  Pak  and  Om,  who  assisted 
him  in  his  flight,  and  of  favorites  and  sycophants  low  and 
many,  who  sell  or  bestow  on  members  of  their  families  offices 
they  have  little  difficulty  in  obtaining  from  his  pliable  good 
nature.  With  an  ample  Civil  List  and  large  perquisites  he  is 
the  most  impecunious  person  in  his  dominions,  for  in  common 
with  all  who  occupy  official  positions  in  Korea  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  hosts  of  grasping  parasites  and  hangers-on,  for 
ever  clamoring  '*  Give,  Give." 

Men  were  thrown  into  prison  without  reason,  some  of  the 
worst  of  the  canaille  were  made  Ministers  of  State,  the  mur- 
derer of  Kwi  Ok-yun  was  appointed  Master  of  Ceremony, 
and  a  convicted  criminal,  a  man  whose  life  has  been  one 
career  of  sordid  crime,  was  made  Minister  of  Justice.  Con- 
sequent upon  the  surreptitious  sale  of  offices,  the  seizure  of 
revenue  on  its  way  to  the  Treasury,  the  appointment  of  men  to 
office  for  a  few  days,  to  give  them  <'rank"  and  to  enable 
them  to  quarter  on  the  public  purse  a  host  of  impecunious  re- 
lations and  friends,  and  the  custom  among  high  officials  of 
resigning  office  on  the  occasion  of  the  smallest  criticism,  the 
administration  is  in  a  state  of  constant  chaos,  and  the  ofttimes 
well-meaning  but  always  vacillating  Sovereign,  absolute  with- 
out an  idea  of  how  to  rule,  the  sport  of  favorites  usually  un- 
worthy, who  work  upon  his  amiability,  the  prey  of  greedy 
parasites,  and  occasionally  the  tool  of  foreign  adventurers, 
paralyzes  all  good  government  by  destroying  the  elements  of 
permanence,  and  renders  economy  and  financial  reform  diffi- 


Seoul  In   1897  433 

cult  and  spasmodic  by  consenting  to  schemes  of  reckless  ex- 
travagance urged  upon  him  by  interested  schemers.  Never 
has  the  King  made  such  havoc  of  reigning  as  since  he  re- 
gained his  freedom  under  the  roof  of  the  Russian  Embassy. 

I  regret  to  have  to  write  anything  to  the  Khig's  disadvan- 
tage. Personally  I  have  found  him  truly  courteous  and  kind, 
as  he  is  to  all  foreigners.  He  has  amiable  characteristics,  and 
I  believe  a  certain  amount  of  patriotic  feeling.  But  as  he  is 
an  all-important  element  of  the  present  and  future  condition 
of  Korea,  it  would  be  misleading  and  dishonest  to  pass  over 
without  remark  such  characteristics  of  his  character  and  rule 
as  are  disastrous  to  Korea,  bearing  in  mind  in  extenuation  of 
them  that  he  is  the  product  of  five  centuries  of  a  dynastic  tra- 
dition which  has  practically  taught  that  public  business  and 
the  interests  of  the  country  mean  for  the  Sovereign  simply  get- 
ting offices  and  pay  for  favorites,  and  that  statesmanship  con- 
sists in  playing  off  one  Minister  against  another. 

Novelties  in  the  Seoul  streets  were  the  fine  physique  and 
long  gray  uniforms  of  Colonel  Putiata  and  his  subordinates, 
three  officers  and  ten  drill-instructors,  who  arrived  to  drill 
and  discipline  the  Korean  army,  the  American  military  ad- 
viser having  proved  a  failure,  while  the  troops  drilled  by  the 
Japanese  were  mutinous  and  rapacious,  and  the  Japanese  drill- 
instructors  had  retired  with  the  rest  of  the  regime.  This 
**  Military  Commission  "  was  doing  its  work  with  characteris- 
tic vigor  and  thoroughness,  and  the  flat-faced,  pleasant-look- 
ing, non-commissioned  officers,  with  their  drilled  slouch, 
serviceable  uniforms,  and  long  boots  were  always  an  attraction 
to  the  crowd.  A  novelty,  too,  was  the  sight  of  the  Korean 
cadet  corps  of  thirty-seven  young  men  of  good  families  and 
seven  officers,  marching  twice  daily  between  the  drill  ground 
of  the  Korean  troops  close  to  the  Kyeng-pok  Palace  and  their 
own  barracks  behind  the  Russian  Legation,  with  drums  beat- 
ing and  colors  flying.  These  young  men,  who  are  to  receive 
a  two  years'  military  education  from  Russian  officers,  are  un- 


434  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

der  severe  discipline,  and  were  greatly  surprised  to  find  that 
servants  were  a  prohibited  luxury,  and  that  their  training  in- 
volved the  cleaning  and  keeping  bright  of  their  own  rifles  and 
accoutrements,  and  hard  work  for  many  hours  of  the  day. 
The  army  now  consists  of  4,300  men  in  Seoul,  800  of  whom 
are  drilled  as  a  bodyguard  for  the  King,  and  1,200  in  the 
provinces,  in  Japanese  uniforms,  and  equipped  (so  far  as  they 
go)  with  3,000  Berdan  rifles  presented  by  Russia  to  Korea. 
The  drill  and  words  of  command  are  Russian. 

A  standing  army  of  2,000  men  would  have  been  sufficient 
for  all  purposes  in  Korea,  and  as  far  as  her  need  goes  an  army 
of  6,000  is  an  unblushing  extravagance  and  a  heavy  drain  on 
her  resources.  It  is  most  probable  that  a  force  drilled  and 
armed  by  Russia,  accustomed  to  obey  Russian  orders  and  ani- 
mated by  an  intense  hereditary  hatred  of  Japan,  would  prove 
a  valuable  corps  d'armee  to  Russia  in  the  event  of  war  with 
that  ambitious  and  restless  empire. 

The  old  kesit  or  gens  d' amies  with  their  picturesque  dresses 
and  long  red  plumes  are  now  only  to  be  seen,  and  that  rarely, 
in  attendance  on  officials  of  the  Korean  Government.  Seoul 
is  now  policed,  much  overpoliced,  for  it  has  a  force  of  1,200 
men,  when  a  quarter  of  that  number  would  be  sufficient  for 
its  orderly  population.  Everywhere  numbers  of  slouching 
men  on  and  off"  duty,  in  Japanese  semi-military  uniforms,  with 
shocks  of  hair  behind  their  ears  and  swords  in  nickel-plated 
scabbards  by  their  sides,  suggest  useless  and  extravagant  ex- 
penditure. The  soldiers  and  police,  by  an  unwise  arrange- 
ment made  by  the  Japanese,  and  now  scarcely  possible  to 
alter,  are  enormously  overpaid,  the  soldiers  receiving  five  dol- 
lars and  a  half  a  month,  '*  all  found,"  and  the  police  from 
eight  to  ten,  only  finding  their  food.  The  Korean  army  is 
about  the  most  highly  paid  in  the  world.  The  average  Ko- 
rean in  his  great  baggy  trousers,  high,  perishable,  broad- 
brimmed  hat,  capacious  sleeves,  and  long  flapping  white  coat, 
is  usually  a  docile  and  harmless  man ;  but  European  clothes 


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Seoul  in   1897  435 

and  arms  transform  him  into  a  truculent,  insubordinate,  and 
ofttimes  brutal  person,  without  civic  sympathies  or  patriotism, 
greedy  of  power  and  spoil.  Detachments  of  soldiers  scattered 
through  the  country  were  a  terror  to  the  people  from  their 
brutality  and  marauding  propensities  early  in  1897,  and  unless 
Russian  officers  are  more  successful  than  their  predecessors  in 
disciplining  the  raw  material,  an  overpaid  army,  too  large  for 
the  requirements  of  the  country,  may  prove  a  source  of  weak- 
ness and  frequent  disorder. 

Seoul  in  many  parts,  specially  in  the  direction  of  the  south 
and  west  gates,  was  literally  not  recognizable.  Streets,  with  a 
minimum  width  of  55  feet,  with  deep  stone-lined  channels  on 
both  sides,  bridged  by  stone  slabs,  had  replaced  the  foul  alleys, 
which  were  breeding-grounds  of  cholera.  Narrow  lanes  had 
been  widened,  slimy  runlets  had  been  paved,  roadways  were 
no  longer  "free  coups"  for  refuse,  bicyclists  '^scorched" 
along  broad,  level  streets,  **  express  wagons"  were  looming 
in  the  near  future,  preparations  were  being  made  for  the  build- 
ing of  a  French  hotel  in  a  fine  situation,  shops  with  glass  fronts 
had  been  erected  in  numbers,  an  order  forbidding  the  throw- 
ing of  refuse  into  the  streets  was  enforced, — refuse  matter  is 
now  removed  from  the  city  by  official  scavengers,  and  Seoul, 
from  having  been  the  foulest  is  now  on  its  way  to  being  the 
cleanest  city  of  the  Far  East ! 

This  extraordinary  metamorphosis  was  the  work  of  four 
months,  and  is  due  to  the  energy  and  capacity  of  the  Chief 
Commissioner  of  Customs,  ably  seconded  by  the  capable  and 
intelligent  Governor  of  the  city.  Ye  Cha  Yun,  who  had  ac- 
quainted himself  with  the  working  of  municipal  affairs  in 
Washington,  and  who  with  a  rare  modesty  refused  to  take  any 
credit  to  himself  for  the  city  improvements,  saying  that  it  was 
all  due  to  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown, 

Old  Seoul,  with  its  festering  alleys,  its  winter  accumulations 
of  every  species  of  filth,  its  ankle-deep  mud  and  its  foulness, 
which  lacked   the  redeeming  element  of  picturesqueness,   is 


436  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

being  fast  improved  off  the  face  of  the  earth.  Yet  it  is  chiefly 
a  restoration,  for  the  dark,  narrow  alleys  which  lingered  on  till 
the  autumn  of  1896  were  but  the  result  of  gradual  encroach- 
ments on  broad  roadways,  the  remains  of  the  marginal  chan- 
nels of  which  were  discovered. 

What  was  done  (and  is  being  done)  was  to  pull  down  the 
houses,  compensate  their  owners,  restore  the  old  channels,  and 
insist  that  the  houses  should  be  rebuilt  at  a  uniform  distance 
behind  them.  Along  the  fine  broad  streets  thus  restored  tiled 
roofs  have  largely  replaced  thatch,  in  many  cases  the  lower 
parts  of  the  walls  have  been  rebuilt  of  stone  instead  of  wattle, 
and  attempts  at  decoration  and  neatness  are  apparent  in  many 
of  the  house  and  shop  fronts,  while  many  of  the  smoke-holes, 
which  vomit  forth  the  smoke  of  the  kang  fires  directly  into  the 
street,  are  now  fitted  with  glittering  chimneys,  constructed  out 
of  American  kerosene  tins. 

Some  miles  of  broad  streets  are  now  available  as  promenades, 
and  are  largely  taken  advantage  of;  business  looked  much 
brisker  than  formerly,  the  shops  made  more  display,  and  there 
was  an  air  of  greater  prosperity,  which  has  been  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  the  Hong-Kong  and  Shanghai  Bank,  which  has 
opened  a  branch  at  Chemulpo,  and  will  probably  erelong  ap- 
pear in  the  capital. 

It  is  not,  however,  only  in  the  making  of  broad  thorough- 
fares that  the  improvement  consists.  Very  many  of  the  narrow 
lanes  have  been  widened,  their  roadways  curved  and  gravelled, 
and  stone  gutters  have  been  built  along  the  sides,  in  some  cases 
by  the  people  themselves.  Along  with  much  else  the  pungent, 
peculiar  odor  of  Seoul  has  vanished.  Sanitary  regulations  are 
enforced,  and  civilization  has  reached  such  a  height  that  the 
removal  of  the  snow  from  the  front  of  the  houses  is  compulsory 
on  all  householders.  So  great  is  the  change  that  I  searched  in 
vain  for  any  remaining  representative  slum  which  I  might 
photograph  for  this  chapter  as  an  illustration  of  Seoul  in  1894. 


Seoul  in    1897  437 

It  must  be  remarked,  however,  that  the  capital  is  being  recon- 
structed on  Korean  lines,  and  is  not  being  Europeanized. 

Chong-dong,  however,  the  quarter  devoted  to  Foreign  Le- 
gations, Consulates,  and  Mission  agencies,  would  have  nearly 
ceased  to  be  Korean  had  not  the  King  set  down  the  Kyeng- 
won  Palace  with  its  crowded  outbuildings  in  the  midst  of  the 
foreign  residences.  Most  of  the  native  inhabitants  have  been 
bought  out.  Wide  roads  with  foreign  shops  have  been  con- 
structed. The  French  have  built  a  Legation  on  a  height, 
which  vies  in  grandeur  with  that  of  Russia,  and  the  American 
Methodist  Episcopal  Mission  has  finished  a  large  red  brick 
church,  which,  like  the  Roman  Cathedral,  can  be  seen  from 
all  quarters. 

The  picturesque  Peking  Pass,  up  and  down  whose  narrow, 
rugged  pathway  generations  of  burdened  baggage  animals 
toiled  and  suffered,  and  which  had  seen  the  splendors  of  suc- 
cessive Chinese  Imperial  Envoys  at  the  accession  of  the 
Korean  Kings,  has  lost  its  identity.  Its  rock  ledges,  holes, 
and  boulders  have  disappeared — the  rocky  gash  has  been 
widened,  and  the  sides  chiselled  into  smoothness,  and  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Russian  Minister  a  broad  road,  with  retain- 
ing walls  and  fine  culverts,  now  carries  the  traffic  over  the 
lowered  height. 

Many  other  changes  were  noticeable.  The  Tai-won  Kun, 
for  so  many  years  one  of  the  chief  figures  in  Korean  politics, 
was  practically  a  prisoner  in  his  own  palace.  The  Eastern  and 
Western  Palaces,  with  their  enormous  accommodation  and  im- 
mense pleasure-grounds,  were  deserted,  and  were  already  be- 
ginning to  decay.  The  Japanese  soldiers  had  vacated  the 
barracks  so  long  occupied  by  them  close  to  the  Kyeng-pok 
Palace,  and,  reduced  to  the  modest  numbers  of  a  Legation 
guard,  were  quartered  in  the  Japanese  settlement ;  parties  of 
missionaries  who  had  hived  off  from  Chong-dong  were  occupy- 
ing groups  of  houses  in  various  parts  of  the  capital,  and  there 
was  a  singular  *'  boom  "  in  schools,  accompanied  by  a  military 


438  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

craze,  which  affected  not  the  scholars  only,  but  the  boys  of 
Seoul  generally. 

But  it  must  be  remarked  in  connection  with  education  in 
Korea  that  so  lately  as  the  close  of  1896  a  book,  called  Con- 
fucianist  Scholars^  Handbook  of  the  Latitudes  and  Longi- 
tudes, had  been  edited  by  Sin  Ki  Sun,  Minister  of  Education, 
prefaced  by  two  Councillors  of  the  Education  Department, 
and  published  at  Government  expense,  in  which  the  following 
sentences  occur : — 

P.  52  :  ''Europe  is  too  far  away  from  the  centre  of  civi- 
lization, i.e.  the  Middle  Kingdom;  hence  Russians,  Turks, 
English,  French,  Germans,  and  Belgians  look  more  like  birds 
and  beasts  than  men,  and  their  languages  sound  like  the  chirp- 
ing of  fowls." 

Again:  ''According  to  the  views  of  recent  generations, 
what  westerners  call  the  Christian  Religion  is  vulgar,  shallow, 
and  erroneous,  and  is  an  instance  of  the  vileness  of  Barbarian 
customs,  which  are  not  worthy  of  serious  discussion.  .  .  . 
They  worship  the  heavenly  spirits,  but  do  not  sacrifice  to  par- 
ents, they  insult  heaven  in  every  way,  and  overturn  the  social 
relations.  This  is  truly  a  type  of  Barbarian  vileness,  and  is 
not  worthy  of  treatment  in  our  review  of  foreign  customs, 
especially  as  at  this  time  the  religion  is  somewhat  on  the 
wane. 

"Europeans  have  planted  their  spawn  in  every  country  of 
the  globe  except  China.  All  of  them  honor  this  religion  (!), 
but  we  are  surprised  to  find  that  the  Chinese  scholars  and 
people  have  not  escaped  contamination  by  it." 

On  p.  42  it  is  said:  "Of  late  the  so-called  Ye  Su  Kyo 
(Cliristianity)  has  been  trying  to  contaminate  the  world  with 
its  barbarous  teachings.  It  deceives  the  masses  by  its  stories 
of  Heaven  and  Hell :  it  interferes  with  the  rites  of  ancestral 
worship,  and  interdicts  the  custom  of  bowing  before  the  gods 
of  Heaven  and  Earth.  These  are  the  ravings  of  a  disordered 
intellect,  and  are  not  worth  discussing." 


Seoul  in   1897  439 

P.  50  :  "  How  grand  and  glorious  is  the  Empire  of  China, 
the  Middle  Kingdom  !  She  is  the  largest  and  richest  in  the 
world.  The  grandest  men  of  the  world  have  all  come  from 
the  Middle  Empire." 

This  tirade  from  an  official  pen  was  thought  worthy  of  a  re- 
monstrance from  the  foreign  representatives. 

The  graceful  Pai-low,  near  the  Peking  Pass,  at  which  gener- 
ations of  Korean  kings  had  publicly  acknowledged  Chinese 
suzerainty  by  awaiting  there  the  Imperial  Envoy  who  came  to 
invest  them  with  regal  rights,  was  removed,  and  during  my 
sojourn  the  foundation  of  an  arch  to  commemorate  the  as- 
sumption of  Independence  by  Korea  in  January,  1895,  was  laid 
near  the  same  spot,  in  presence  of  a  vast  concourse  of  white- 
robed  men.  An  Independence  Club,  with  a  disused  Royal 
Pavilion  near  the  stumps  of  the  Pai-low  for  its  Club  House, 
had  been  established  to  commemorate  and  conserve  the 
national  autonomy,  and  though  the  entrance  fee  is  high,  had 
already  a  membership  of  2,000. 

After  a  number  of  patriotic  speeches  had  been  made  on  the 
occasion  of  the  laying  of  the  foundation  of  the  independence 
arch,  the  Club  entertained  the  Foreign  Legations  and  all  the 
foreign  residents  at  a  recherche  ''  collation  "  in  this  building; 
speeches  were  made  both  by  Koreans  and  the  Foreign  Repre- 
sentatives, and  an  extraordinary  innovation  was  introduced. 
Waiters  were  dispensed  with,  and  the  Committee  of  the  Club, 
the  Governor  of  Seoul,  and  several  of  the  Ministers  of  Stale 
themselves  attended  upon  the  guests  with  much  grace  and 
courtesy. 

One  of  the  most  important  events  in  Seoul  was  the  establish- 
ment in  April,  1896,  by  Dr.  Jaisohn  of  the  Independent ^  a  two- 
page  tri-weekly  newspaper  in  English  and  the  Korean  script, 
enlarged  early  in  1897  to  four  pages,  and  published  separately 
in  each  language.  Only  those  who  have  formed  some  idea  of 
the  besotted  ignorance  of  the  Korean  concerning  current 
events  in  his  own  country,  and  of  the  credulity  which  makes 


440  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

him  the  victim  of  every  rumor  set  afloat  in  the  capital,  can  ap^ 
predate  the  significance  of  this  step  and  its  probable  effect  in 
enlightening  the  people,  and  in  creating  a  public  opinion 
which  shall  sit  in  judgment  on  regal  and  official  misdeeds.  It 
is  already  fulfilling  an  important  function  in  unearthing  abuses 
and  dragging  them  into  daylight,  and  is  creating  a  desire  for 
rational  education  and  reasonable  reform,  and  is  becoming 
something  of  a  terror  to  evil-doers.  Dr.  Jaisohn  (So  Chia 
P'il)  is  a  Korean  gentleman  educated  in  America,  and  has  the 
welfare  of  his  country  thoroughly  at  heart. 

The  sight  of  newsboys  passing  through  the  streets  with  bun- 
dles of  a  newspaper  in  En-miin  under  their  arms,  and  of  men 
reading  them  in  their  shops,  is  among  the  novelties  of  1897. 
Besides  the  Independent,  there  are  now  in  Seoul  two  weeklies 
in  En-miin  the  Korean  Christian  Advocate,  and  the  Christian 
News;  and  the  Korean  Independence  Club  publishes  a 
monthly  magazine.  The  Chosen,  dealing  with  politics,  science, 
and  foreign  news,  which  has  2,000  subscribers.  Seoul  has 
also  a  paper,  the  Kanjo  Shimbo,  or  Seoul  News,  in  mixed 
Japanese  and  Korean  script,  published  on  alternate  days,  and 
there  are  newspapers  in  the  Japanese  language,  both  in  Fusan 
and  Chemulpo.  All  these,  and  the  admirable  Korean  Re- 
pository, are  the  growth  of  the  last  three  years. 

The  faculty  of  combination,  by  which  in  Korea  as  in  China 
the  weak  find  some  measure  of  protection  against  the  strong, 
is  being  turned  to  useful  account.  This  Kyei,  or  principle  of 
association,  which  represents  one  of  the  most  noteworthy 
features  of  Korea,  develops  into  insurance  companies,  mutual 
benefit  associations,  money-lending  syndicates,  tontines,  mar- 
riage and  burial  clubs,  great  trading  guilds,  and  many  others. 

With  its  innumerable  associations,  only  a  few  of  which  I 
have  alluded  to,  Korean  life  is  singularly  complex;  and  the 
Korean  business  world  is  far  more  fully  organized  than  ours, 
nearly  all  the  traders  in  the  country  being  members  of  guilds, 
powerfully  bound  together,  and  having  the  common  feature  of 


Seoul  in   1897  44^ 

mutual  helpfulness  in  time  of  need.  This  habit  of  united 
action,  and  the  measure  of  honesty  which  is  essential  to  the 
success  of  combined  undertakings,  supply  the  framework  on 
which  various  joint-stock  companies  are  being  erected,  among 
which  one  of  the  most  important  is  a  tannery.  Korean  hides 
have  hitherto  been  sent  to  Japan  to  be  manufactured,  owing 
to  caste  and  superstitious  prejudices  against  working  in  leather. 
The  establishment  of  this  company,  which  brought  over  Japa- 
nese instructors  to  teach  the  methods  of  manufacture,  has  not 
only  made  an  end  of  a  foolish  prejudice,  in  the  capital  at 
least,  but  is  opening  a  very  lucrative  industry,  and  others  are 
following. 

As  may  be  expected  in  an  Oriental  country,  the  administra- 
tion of  law  in  Korea  is  on  the  whole  infamous.  It  may  be  said 
that  a  body  of  law  has  yet  to  be  created,  as  well  as  the  judges 
who  shall  administer  it  equably.  A  mixed  Committee  of  Re- 
vision has  been  appointed,  but  the  Korean  members  show  a 
marked  tendency  to  drop  off,  and  no  legal  reform,  solely  the 
work  of  foreigners,  would  carry  weight  with  the  people.  Mr. 
Greathouse,  a  capable  lawyer  and  legal  adviser  to  the  Law  De- 
partment, has  been  able  to  prevent  some  infamous  transactions, 
but  on  the  whole  the  Seoul  Law  Court  does  little  more  than  ad- 
minister injustice  and  receive  bribes.  Of  the  two  Law  Courts 
of  the  capital  the  Supreme  Court,  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Minister  and  Vice-Minister  of  Justice,  and  in  which  the  foreign 
adviser  sits  with  the  judges  to  advise  in  important  cases,  is  the 
most  hopeful ;  yet  one  of  the  most  disgraceful  of  late  appoint- 
ments has  been  in  connection  with  this  department.  The  out- 
rageous decisions,  the  gross  bribery,  and  the  actual  atrocities 
of  the  Seoul  Court  are  likely  to  bring  about  its  abolition,  and 
I  will  not  enlarge  upon  them. 

One  of  the  most  striking  changes  introduced  into  the  Seoul 
of  1897  is  the  improvement  in  the  prison,  which  is  greatly 
owing  to  Mr.  A.  B.  Stripling,  formerly  of  the  Shanghai  Police, 
who,  occupying  a  position  as  adviser  to  the  Police  Department, 


44^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

is  carrying  out  prison  reforms,  originally  suggested  by  the 
Japanese,  in  a  humane  and  enlightened  manner.  Torture  has 
disappeared  from  the  great  city  prison,  but  there  were  dark 
rumors  that  some  of  the  political  prisoners,  so  lately  as  Jan- 
uary, 1897,  were  subjected  to  it  elsewhere. 

My  experience  of  Eastern  prisons,  chiefly  in  Asia  Minor, 
China,  Persia,  and  a  glimpse  of  a  former  prison  in  Seoul,  have 
given  me  a  vivid  impression  of  the  contrast  presented  by  the 
present  system.  Surrounding  a  large  quadrangle,  with  the 
chief  jailer's  house  in  the  centre,  the  rooms,  not  to  be  called 
cells,  are  large,  airy,  light,  and  well  ventilated,  with  boarded 
floors  covered  with  mats,  and  plenty  of  air  space  below.  It  is 
true  that  on  the  day  I  visited  them  some  of  the  prisoners  were 
shivering,  and  shivered  more  vigorously  as  an  appeal  to  my 
compassion,  but  then  the  mecury  was  at  18°  F.,  and  this  is 
not  a  usual  temperature.  They  have  a  large  bathroom  with  a 
stove  on  the  Japanese  plan.  Their  diet  consists  of  a  pint  of 
excellent  soup  twice  a  day,  with  a  large  bowl  of  rice,  and 
those  who  go  out  to  work  get  a  third  meal.  This  ample  diet 
cost  i^d.  per  day. 

There  were  from  twelve  to  eighteen  prisoners  in  each  ordi- 
nary room,  and  fifty  were  awaiting  trial  in  one  roomy  hall.  A 
few  under  sentence,  two  of  them  to  death,  wore  long  wooden 
cangiies,  but  I  did  not  see  any  fetters.  They  are  allowed  to 
bring  in  their  own  mattresses,  mats,  and  pillows  for  extra  com- 
fort. On  the  whole  they  were  clean,  cleaner  than  the  ordinary 
coolies  outside.  A  perforated  wooden  bar  attached  to  the 
floor,  with  another  with  corresponding  perforations  above  it, 
secures  the  legs  of  the  prisoners  at  night.  The  sick  were  lying 
thickly  on  the  hot  floor  of  a  room  very  imperfectly  lighted, 
but  probably  the  well  would  have  been  glad  to  change  with 
them. 

There  were  225  prisoners  altogether,  all  men.  Classifica- 
tion is  still  in  the  future.  Murderers  and  pilferers  occupied 
the  same  room,  and  colonels  of  regiments  accused  of  a  serious 


Seoul  in    1897  443 

conspiracy  were  with  convicted  felons,  who  might  or  might 
not  be  acting  as  spies  and  informers  ;  a  very  fine-looking  man, 
sentenced  for  life,  the  first  magistrate  in  Korea  ever  convicted 
and  punished  for  bribery,  and  that  on  the  complaint  of  a 
simple  citizen,  was  in  a  ''cell"  with  criminals  wearing 
cangues.  Some  of  the  sentences  seemed  out  of  proportion  to 
the  off'ences,  as,  for  instance,  a  feeble  old  man  was  immured 
for  three  years  for  cutting  and  carrying  off  pine  brush  for  fuel, 
and  an  old  blind  man  of  some  position  was  incarcerated  for 
ten  years  for  the  violation  of  a  grave  under  circumstances  of 
provocation. 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  prison  reform,  and  much 
remains  to  be  done,  specially  in  the  direction  of  classification, 
but  still  the  great  Seoul  prison  contrasts  most  favorably  with 
the  prisons  of  China  and  other  unreformed  Oriental  countries. 
Torture  is  at  least  nominally  abolished,  and  brutal  exposures 
of  severed  heads  and  headless  trunks,  and  beating  and  slicing 
to  death,  were  made  an  end  of  during  the  ascendency  of 
Japan.  After  an  afternoon  in  the  prison  of  Seoul,  I  could 
hardly  believe  it  possible  that  only  two  years  before  I  had  seen 
several  human  heads  hanging  from  tripod  stands  and  lying  on 
the  ground  in  the  throng  of  a  business  street,  and  headless 
bodies  lying  in  their  blood  on  the  road  outside  the  East  Gate. 

To  mention  the  changes  in  Seoul  would  take  another  chap- 
ter. Dr.  Allen,  now  U.S.  Minister  to  Korea,  said  that  the 
last  four  months  of  1896  had  seen  more  alterations  than  the 
previous  twelve  years  of  his  residence  in  the  country,  and  the 
three  months  of  my  last  visit  brought  something  new  every 
week. 

As  a  foil  to  so  much  that  is  indicative  of  progress,  I  con- 
clude this  chapter  by  mentioning,  on  the  authority  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Seoul,  that  in  January,  1897,  there  were  in  the  cap- 
ital a  thousand  viu-tang,  or  sorceresses,  earning  on  an  average 
fifteen  dollars  a  month  each,  representing  an  annual  ex- 
penditure by  that  single  city  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  thou- 


444 


Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 


sand  dollars  on  dealings  with  the  spirits,  exclusive  of  the  large 
sums  paid  to  the  blind  sorcerers  for  their  services,  and  to  the 
geomancers,  whose  claims  on  the  occasion  of  the  interment  of 
any  one  of  rank  and  wealth  are  simply  monstrous. 


KOREAN    POLICEMEN 

Old  Rcgivie  New  Regime 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 

LAST   WORDS    ON    KOREA 

THE  patient  reader  has  now  learned  with  me  something  of 
Korean  history  during  the  last  three  years,  as  well  as  of 
the  reorganized  methods  of  Government,  and  the  education, 
trade,  and  finance  of  the  country.  He  has  also  by  proxy 
travelled  in  the  interior,  and  has  lived  among  the  peasant 
farmers,  seeing  their  industries,  the  huckstering  which  passes 
for  trade,  something  of  their  domestic  life  and  habits,  and  the 
superstitions  by  which  they  are  enslaved,  and  has  acquired 
some  knowledge  of  the  official  and  patrician  exactions  under 
which  they  suffer.  He  has  seen  the  Koreans  at  home,  with 
their  limpness,  laziness,  dependence,  and  poverty,  and  Koreans 
under  Russian  rule  raised  into  a  thrifty  and  prosperous  pcjpu- 
lation.  He  can  to  some  extent  judge  for  himself  of  the  pros- 
pects of  a  country  which  is  incapable  of  standing  alone,  and 
which  could  support  double  its  present  population,  and  of  the 
value  of  a  territory  which  is  possibly  coveted  by  two  Powers. 
Having  acted  as  his  guide  so  far,  I  should  like  to  conclude 
with  a  few  words  on  some  of  the  subjects  which  have  been 
glanced  at  in  the  course  of  these  volumes. 

Korea  is  not  necessarily  a  poor  country.  Her  resources  are 
undeveloped,  not  exhausted.  Her  capacities  for  successful 
agriculture  are  scarcely  exploited.  Her  climate  is  superb,  her 
rainfall  abundant,  and  her  soil  productive.  Her  hills  and 
valleys  contain  coal,  iron,  copper,  lead,  and  gold.  The  fish- 
eries along  her  coast-line  of  1,740  miles  might  be  a  source  of 
untold  wealth.  She  is  inhabited  by  a  hardy  and  hospitable 
race,  and  she  has  no  beggar  class. 

445 


/|/]6  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

On  the  other  hand,  the  energies  of  her  people  lie  dormant. 
The  upper  classes,  paralyzed  by  the  most  absurd  of  social  obli- 
gations, spend  their  lives  in  inactivity.  To  the  middle  class 
no  careers  are  open ;  there  are  no  skilled  occupations  to  which 
they  can  turn  their  energies.  The  lower  classes  work  no  harder 
than  is  necessary  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door,  for  very  suffi- 
cient reasons.  Even  in  Seoul,  the  largest  mercantile  establish- 
ments have  hardly  risen  to  the  level  of  shops.  Everything  in 
Korea  has  been  on  a  low,  poor,  mean  level.  Class  privileges, 
class  and  official  exactions,  a  total  absence  of  justice,  the  in- 
security of  all  earnings,  a  Government  which  has  carried  out 
the  worst  traditions  on  which  all  unreformed  Oriental  Govern- 
ments are  based,  a  class  of  official  robbers  steeped  in  intrigue, 
a  monarch  enfeebled  by  the  seclusion  of  the  palace  and  the 
pettinesses  of  the  Seraglio,  a  close  alliance  with  one  of  the  most 
corrupt  of  empires,  the  mutual  jealousies  of  interested  foreign- 
ers, and  an  all-pervading  and  terrorizing  superstition  have  done 
their  best  to  reduce  Korea  to  that  condition  of  resourcelessness 
and  dreary  squalor  in  which  I  formed  my  first  impression  of 
her. 

Nevertheless  the  resources  are  there,  in  her  seas,  her  soil, 
and  her  hardy  population. 

A  great  and  universal  curse  in  Korea  is  the  habit  in  which 
thousands  of  able-bodied  men  indulge  of  hanging,  or  *'sorn- 
ing,"  on  relations  or  friends  who  are  better  off  than  them- 
selves. There  is  no  shame  in  the  transaction,  and  there  is  no 
public  opinion  to  condemn  it.  A  man  who  has  a  certain  in- 
come, however  small,  has  to  support  many  of  his  own  kindred, 
his  wife's  relations,  many  of  his  own  friends,  and  the  friends 
of  his  relatives.  This  partly  explains  the  rush  for  Government 
offices,  and  their  position  as  marketable  commodities.  To  a 
man  burdened  with  a  horde  of  hangers-on,  the  one  avenue  of 
escape  is  official  life,  which,  whether  high  or  low,  enables  him 
to  provide  for  them  out  of  the  public  purse.  This  accounts 
for  the  continual  creation  of  offices,  with  no  other  real  object 


Last  Words  on  Korea  447 

than  the  pensioning  of  the  relatives  and  friends  of  the  men 
who  rule  the  country.  Above  all,  this  explains  the  frequency 
of  conspiracies  and  small  revolutions  in  Korea.  Principle  is 
rarely  at  stake,  and  no  Korean  revolutionist  intends  to  risk  his 
life  in  support  of  any  conviction. 

Hundreds  of  men,  strong  in  health  and  of  average  intelli- 
gence, are  at  this  moment  hanging  on  for  everything,  even 
their  tobacco,  to  high  officials  in  Seoul,  eating  three  meals  a 
day,  gossiping  and  plotting  misdeeds,  the  feeling  of  honorable 
independence  being  unknown.  When  it  is  desirable  to  get 
rid  of  them,  or  it  is  impossible  to  keep  them  longer,  offices  are 
created  or  obtained  for  them.  Hence  Government  employ- 
ment is  scarcely  better  than  a  "free  coup"  for  this  class  of 
rubbish.  The  factious  political  disturbances  which  have  dis- 
graced Korea  for  many  years  have  not  been  conflicts  of  prin- 
ciple at  all,  but  fights  for  the  Government  position  which  gives 
its  holder  the  disposal  of  offices  and  money.  The  suspicious- 
ness which  prevents  high  officials  from  working  together  is  also 
partly  due  to  the  desire  of  every  Minister  to  get  more  influence 
with  the  King  than  his  colleagues,  and  so  secure  more  appoint- 
ments for  his  relations  and  friends.  The  author  of  the  Korean 
Dictionary  states  that  the  word  for  work  in  Korean  is  synony- 
mous with  "loss,"  "evil,"  "misfortune,"  and  the  man  who 
leads  an  idle  life  proves  his  right  to  a  place  among  the  gentry. 
The  strongest  claim  for  office  which  an  official  puts  forward  for 
a  protege  is  that  he  cannot  make  a  living.  Such  persons  when 
appointed  do  little,  and  often  nothing,  except  draw  their  sal- 
aries and  "  squeeze  "  where  they  can  ! 

I  have  repeated  almost  ad  nauseam  that  the  cultivator  of  the 
soil  is  the  ultimate  sponge.  The  farmers  work  harder  than 
any  other  class,  and  could  easily  double  the  production  of  the 
land,  their  methods,  though  somewhat  primitive,  being  fairly 
well  adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate.  But  having  no  security 
for  their  gains,  they  are  content  to  produce  only  what  will  feed 
and  clothe  their  families,  and  are  afraid  to  build  better  houses 


448  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

or  to  dress  respectably.  There  are  innumerable  peasant  farmers 
who  have  gone  on  reducing  their  acreage  of  culture  year  by 
year,  owing  to  the  exactions  and  forced  loans  of  magistrates 
siiid  y a /ig- If ans,  and  who  now  only  raise  what  will  enable  them 
to  procure  three  meals  a  day.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  classes 
whose  manifest  destiny  is  to  be  squeezed,  should  have  sunk 
down  to  a  dead  level  of  indifference,  inertia,  apathy,  and 
listlessness. 

In  spite  of  reforms,  the  Korean  nation  still  consists  of  but 
two  classes,  the  Robbers  and  the  Robbed, — the  official  class 
recruited  from  the  yang-bans y  the  licensed  vampires  of  the 
country,  and  the  Ha-hiy  literally  "low  men,"  a  residuum  of 
fully  four-fifths  of  the  population,  whose  raiso7i  d^etre  is  to 
supply  the  blood  for  the  vampires  to  suck. 

Out  of  such  unpromising  materials  the  new  nation  has  to  be 
constructed,  by  education,  by  protecting  the  producing  classes, 
by  punishing  dishonest  officials,  and  by  the  imposition  of  a 
labor  test  in  all  Government  offices,  i.e.  by  paying  only  for 
work  actually  done. 

That  reforms  are  not  hopeless,  if  carried  out  under  firm  and 
capable  foreign  supervision,  is  shown  by  what  has  been  ac- 
complished in  the  Treasury  Department  in  one  year.  No  Ko- 
rean office  was  in  a  more  chaotic  and  corrupt  condition,  and 
the  ramifications  of  its  corruption  were  spread  all  through  the 
Provinces.  Much  was  hoped  when  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown  ac- 
cepted the  thankless  position  of  Financial  Adviser,  from  his 
known  force  of  character  and  remarkable  financial  capacity, 
but  no  one  would  have  ventured  to  predict  what  has  actually 
occurred. 

Although  his  efforts  at  financial  reform  have  been  thwarted 
at  every  turn,  not  alone  by  the  rapacity  of  the  King's  male 
and  female  favorites,  and  the  measureless  cunning  and  craft  of 
corrupt  officials,  who  incite  the  Sovereign  to  actions  concern- 
ing money  which  are  subversive  of  the  fairest  schemes  of 
financial  rectitude,  but  by  chicane,  fraud,  and  corruption  in 


Last  Words  on  Korea  449 

every  department ;  by  the  absence  of  trustworthy  subordi- 
nates ;  by  infancious  traditional  customs  ;  and  the  fact  that 
every  man  in  office,  and  every  man  hoping  for  office,  is 
pledged  by  his  personal  interest  to  oppose  every  effort  at  re- 
form actively  or  passively,  Korean  finance  stands  thus  at  the 
close  of  1897. 

In  a  few  months  the  Augean  stable  of  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment in  Seoul  has  been  cleansed ;  the  accounts  are  kept  on  a 
uniform  system,  and  with  the  utmost  exactitude ;  "  value  re- 
ceived" precedes  payments  for  work;  an  army  of  drones, 
hanging  on  to  all  departments  and  subsisting  on  public  money, 
has  been  disbanded ;  a  partial  estimate  has  been  formed  of 
the  revenue  which  the  Provinces  ought  to  produce ;  superflu- 
ous officials  unworthily  appointed  find  that  their  salaries  are 
not  forthcoming;  every  man  entitled  to  receive  payment  is 
paid  at  the  end  of  every  month ;  nothing  is  in  arrears ;  great 
public  improvements  are  carried  out  with  a  careful  supervision 
which  ensures  rigid  economy  ;  the  accounts  of  every  Depart- 
ment undergo  strict  scrutiny ;  no  detail  is  thought  unworthy 
of  attention,  and  instead  of  Korea  being  bankrupt,  as  both  her 
friends  and  enemies  supposed  she  would  be  in  July,  1896,  she 
closed  the  financial  year  in  April,  1897,  with  every  account 
paid  and  a  million  and  a  half  in  the  Treasury,  out  of  which 
she  has  repaid  one  million  of  the  Japanese  loan  of  three  mil- 
lions. If  foreign  advisers  of  similar  calibre  and  capacity  were 
attached  to  all  the  departments  of  State  similar  results  might 
in  time  be  obtained. 

One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  war  and  the  period  of  the  en- 
ergetic ascendency  of  Japan  have  given  Korea  so  rude  a  shake, 
and  have  so  thoroughly  discredited  various  customs  and  insti- 
tutions previously  venerated  for  their  antiquity,  that  no  retro- 
grade movements,  such  as  have  been  to  some  extent  in  progress 
in  1897,  can  replace  her  in  the  old  grooves. 

Seoul  is  Korea  for  most  practical  purposes,  and  the  working 
of  the  ^Vestern  leaven,  the  new  impulses  and  modes  of  thought 


450  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

introduced  by  Western  education,  the  inevitable  contact  with 
foreigners,  and  the  influence  of  a  free  Press  are  through  Seoul 
slowly  affecting  the  nation.  Under  the  shadow  of  Chinese 
suzerainty  the  Korean  yang-han  enjoyed  practically  unlimited 
opportunities  for  the  extortions  and  tyrannies  which  were  the 
atmosphere  of  patrician  life.  Japan  introduced  a  new  theory 
on  this  subject,  and  practically  gave  the  masses  to  understand 
that  they  possess  rights  which  the  classes  are  bound  to  respect, 
and  the  Press  takes  the  same  line. 

It  is  slowly  dawning  upon  the  Korean  peasant  farmer 
through  the  medium  of  Japanese  and  Western  teaching,  that 
to  be  an  ultimate  sponge  is  not  his  inevitable  destiny,  that  he 
is  entitled  to  civil  rights,  equality  before  the  eye  of  the  law, 
and  protection  for  his  earnings. 

The  more  important  of  the  changes  during  the  last  three 
years  which  are  beneficial  to  Korea  may  be  summarized  thus : 
The  connection  with  China  is  at  an  end,  and  with  the  victories 
of  Japan  the  Korean  belief  in  the  unconquerable  military 
power  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  has  been  exploded,  and  the 
alliance  between  two  political  systems  essentially  corrupt  has 
been  severed.  The  distinction  between  patrician  and  plebeian 
has  been  abolished,  on  paper  at  least,  along  with  domestic 
slavery,  and  the  disabilities  which  rendered  the  sons  of  concu- 
bines ineligible  for  high  office.  Brutal  punishments  and  tor- 
ture are  done  away  with,  a  convenient  coinage  has  replaced 
cash,  an  improved  educational  system  has  been  launched,  a 
disciplined  army  and  police  force  has  been  created,  the  Chi- 
nese literary  examinations  are  no  longer  the  test  of  fitness  for 
official  employment,  a  small  measure  of  judicial  reform  has 
been  granted,  a  railroad  from  Chemulpo  to  the  capital  is  being 
rapidly  pushed  to  completion,  the  pressure  of  the  Trades  Guilds 
is  relaxed,  a  postal  system  efficiently  worked  and  commanding 
confidence  has  been  introduced  into  all  the  Provinces,  the 
finances  of  the  country  are  being  placed  on  a  sound  basis,  the 
change  from  a  land-tax  paid  in  kind  to  one  which  is  an  assess- 


Last  Words  on  Korea  451 

ment  in  money  on  the  value  of  the  land  greatly  diminishes 
the  opportunities  for  official ''  squeezing,"  and  large  and  judi- 
cious retrenchments  have  been  carried  out  in  most  of  the  met- 
ropolitan and  provincial  departments. 

Nevertheless,  the  Government   Gazette  of  the  12th  of  Au- 
gust, 1897,  contains  the  following  Royal  Edicts  : — 


We  have  been  looking  into  the  condition  of  the  country.  We  have  re- 
alized the  imminent  danger  which  threatens  the  maintenance  of  the  na- 
tion. But  the  people  of  both  high  and  low  classes  do  not  seem  to  mind 
the  coming  calamity  and  act  indifferently.  Under  the  circumstances  the 
country  cannot  prosper.  We  are  depending  upon  Our  Ministers  for  their 
advice  and  help,  but  they  do  not  respond  to  our  trust.  How  are  we  goiiig 
to  bring  the  nation  out  of  its  chaotic  condition  ?  We  desire  them  to  pause 
and  to  think  that  they  cannot  enjoy  their  homes  unless  the  integrity  of  the 
nation  is  preserved.  We  confess  that  We  have  not  performed  our  part 
properly,  but  Our  Ministers  and  other  officials  ought  to  have  advised  Us 
to  refrain  from  wrongdoing  as  their  ancestors  had  done  to  Our  fore- 
fathers. We  will  endeavor  to  do  what  is  right  and  proper  for  our  country 
hereafter,  and  We  trust  Our  subjects  will  renew  their  loyalty  and  patriot- 
ism in  helping  Us  to  carry  out  Our  aim.  Our  hope  is  that  every  citizen 
in  the  land  will  consider  the  country's  interest  first  before  thinking  of  his 
private  affairs.  Let  Us  all  join  Our  hearts  to  preserve  the  integrity  of 
Our  country. 

II 

The  welfare  of  Our  people  is  our  constant  thought.  We  realize  that 
since  last  year's  disturbance  Our  people  have  been  suffering  greatly  on 
account  of  lack  of  peace  and  order.  The  dead  suffers  as  much  as  the 
living,  but  the  Government  has  not  done  anything  to  ameliorate  the  ex- 
isting condition.  This  thought  makes  Us  worry  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
afHuence  by  which  We  are  surrounded  is  rather  uncomfortable.  If  this 
fact  is  known  to  Our  provincial  officials  they  will  do  their  best  to  amelio- 
rate the  condition  of  the  people.  Compulsory  collection  of  unjust  taxes 
and  thousands  of  lawless  officials  and  Government  agents  rob  the  helpless 
masses  upon  one  pretence  or  another.  Why  do  they  treat  Our  people  so 
cruelly  ?  We  hereby  order  the  provincial  officials  to  look  into  the  various 
items  of  illegal  taxes  now  being  collected,  and  abolish  them  all  without 


45^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

reservation.     Whoever  does  not  heed  this  edict  will  be  punished  accord- 
ing to  the  law.i 

Though  the  Koreans  of  to-day  are  the  product  of  centuries 
of  disadvantages,  yet  after  nearly  a  year  spent  in  the  country, 
during  which  I  made  its  people  my  chief  study,  I  am  by  no 
means  hopeless  of  their  future,  in  spite  of  the  distinctly  retro- 
grade movements  of  1897.  Two  things,  however,  are  es- 
sential. 

I.  As  Korea  is  incapable  of  reforming  herself  from  within, 
that  she  must  be  reformed  from  without. 

II.  That  the  power  of  the  Sovereign  must  be  placed  under 
stringent  and  permanent  constitutional  checks. 

Hitherto  I  have  written  exclusively  on  Korean  internal 
affairs,  her  actual  condition,  and  the  prospects  of  the  social 
and  commercial  advancement  of  the  people.  I  conclude 
with  a  few  remarks  on  the  political  possibilities  of  the 
Korean  future,  and  the  relations  of  Korea  with  certain  other 
powers. 

The  geographical  position  of  Korea,  with  a  frontier  con- 
terminous with  those  of  China  and  Russia,  and  divided  from 
Japan  by  only  a  narrow  sea,  has  done  much  to  determine  her 
political  relationships.  The  ascendency  of  China  grew  nat- 
urally out  of  territorial  connection,  and  its  duration  for  many 
centuries  was  at  once  the  cause  and  effect  of  a  community  in 
philosophy,  customs,  and  to  a  great  extent  in  language  and  re- 
ligion. But  Chinese  control  is  at  an  end,  and  China  can 
scarcely  be  regarded  as  a  factor  in  the  Korean  situation. 

Japan  having  skilfully  asserted  her  claim  to  an  equality  of 
rights  in  Korea,  after  several  diplomatic  triumphs  and  marked 
success  in  obtaining  fiscal  and  commercial  ascendency,  even- 
tually, by  the  overthrow  of  her  rival  in  the  late  war,  secured 
political  ascendency  likewise ;  and  the  long  strife  between  the 

'  The  good  intentions  of  the  Korean  Sovereign,  as  vi^ell  as  the  weakness 
which  renders  them  ineffective,  are  typically  illustrated  in  these  two  pa- 
thetic documents. 


Last  Words  on  Korea  453 

two  empires,  of  which  Korea  had  been  the  unhappy  stage, 
came  to  an  end. 

The  nominal  reason  for  the  war,  to  which  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment has  been  careful  to  adhere,  was  the  absolute  necessity 
for  the  reform  of  the  internal  administration  of  a  State  too  near 
the  shores  of  Japan  to  be  suffered  to  sink  annually  deeper  into 
an  abyss  of  misgovernment  and  ruin.  It  is  needless  to  specu- 
late upon  the  ultimate  object  which  Japan  had  in  view  in 
undertaking  this  unusual  task.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  she 
entered  upon  it  with  great  energy ;  and  that,  while  the  sug- 
gestions she  enforced  introduced  a  new  regune,  struck  at  the 
heart  of  privilege  and  prerogative,  revolutionized  social  order, 
and  reduced  the  Sovereign  to  the  position  of  a  "salaried 
automaton,"  the  remarkable  ability  with  which  her  demands 
were  formulated  gave  them  the  appearance  of  simple  and 
natural  administrative  reforms. 

I  believe  that  Japan  was  thoroughly  honest  in  her  efforts ; 
and  though  she  lacked  experience,  and  was  ofttimes  rough  and 
tactless,  and  aroused  hostile  feeling  needlessly,  that  she  had  no 
intention  to  subjugate,  but  rather  to  play  the  role  of  the  pro- 
tector of  Korea  and  the  guarantor  of  her  independence. 

For  more  than  a  year,  in  spite  of  certain  mistakes,  she  made 
fair  headway,  accomplished  some  useful  and  important  reforms, 
and  initiated  others  ;  and  it  is  only  just  to  her  to  repeat  that 
those  which  are  now  being  carried  out  are  on  the  lines  which 
she  laid  down.  Then  came  Viscount  Miura's  savage  coup, 
which  discredited  Japan  and  her  diplomacy  in  the  eyes  of  the 
civilized  world.  This  was  followed  by  the  withdrawal  of  her 
garrisons,  and  of  her  numerous  advisers,  controllers,  and  drill 
instructors,  and  the  substitution  of  an  apparently  laissez-faire 
policy  for  an  active  dictatorship.  I  write  "apparently,"  be- 
cause it  cannot  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  this  sagacious 
and  ambitious  Empire  recognized  the  unfortunate  circum- 
stances in  Korea  as  a  finality,  and  retired  in  despair ! 

The  landing  of  Japanese  armies  in  Korea,  and  the  subse- 


454  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

quent  declaration  of  war  with  China,  while  they  gave  the 
world  the  shock  of  a  surprise,  were,  as  I  endeavored  to  point 
out  briefly  in  chapter  xiii.,  neither  the  result  of  a  sudden  im- 
pulse, nor  of  the  shakiness  of  a  Ministry  which  had  to  choose 
between  its  own  downfall  and  a  foreign  war.  The  latter  view 
could  only  occur  to  the  most  superficial  student  of  Far  Eastern 
history  and  politics. 

Japan  for  several  centuries  has  regarded  herself  as  possessing 
vested  rights  to  commercial  ascendency  in  Korea.  The  harvest 
of  the  Korean  seas  has  been  reaped  by  her  fishermen,  and  for 
300  years  her  colonies  have  sustained  a  more  or  less  prosperous 
existence  at  Fusan.  Her  resentment  of  the  pretensions  of 
China  in  Korea,  though  debarred  for  a  considerable  time  from 
active  exercise,  first  by  the  policy  of  seclusion  pursued  by  the 
Tokugawa  House,  and  next  by  the  necessity  of  consolidating 
her  own  internal  polity  after  the  restoration,  has  never  slum- 
bered. 

To  deprive  China  of  a  suzerainty  which,  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted, was  not  exercised  for  the  advantage  of  Korea ;  to  con- 
solidate her  own  commercial  supremacy ;  to  ensure  for  herself 
free  access  and  special  privileges ;  to  establish  a  virtual  pro- 
tectorate under  which  no  foreign  dictation  would  be  tolerated ; 
to  reform  Korea  on  Japanese  lines,  and  to  substitute  her  own 
liberal  and  enlightened  civilization  for  the  antique  Oriental 
conservatism  of  the  Peninsula,  are  aims  which  have  been  kept 
steadily  in  view  for  forty  years,  replacing  in  part  the  designs 
which  had  existed  for  several  previous  centuries. 

In  order  to  judge  correctly  of  the  action  or  inaction  of 
Japan  during  1896  and  1897,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  not 
only  that  her  diplomacy  is  secret  and  reticent,  but  that  it  is 
steady ;  that  it  has  not  hitherto  been  affected  by  any  great 
political  cataclysms  at  home;  that  it  has  less  of  opportunism 
than  that  of  almost  any  other  nation,  and  that  the  Japanese 
have  as  much  tenacity  and  fixity  of  purpose  as  any  other  race. 
Also,  Japanese  policy  in  Korea  is  still  shaped  by  the  same  re- 


Last  Words  on  Korea  455" 

markable  statesmen,  who  from  the  day  that  Japan  emerged 
upon  the  international  arena  have  been  recognized  by  the 
people  as  their  natural  leaders,  and  who  have  guided  the 
country  through  the  manifold  complications  which  beset  the 
path  of  her  enlightened  progress  with  a  celerity  and  freedom 
from  disaster  which  have  compelled  the  admiration  of  the 
world. 

The  assassination  of  the  Korean  Queen  under  the  auspices 
of  Viscount  Miura,  and  the  universal  horror  excited  by  the 
act,  rendered  it  politic  for  Japan  to  keep  out  of  sight  till  the 
storm  which  threatened  to  wreck  her  prestige  in  Korea  had 
blown  over.  This  temporary  retirement  was  arranged  with 
consummate  skill.  There  were  no  violent  dislocations.  The 
garrisons  which  were  to  be  withdrawn  quietly  slipped  away, 
and  were  replaced  by  guards  only  sufficient  for  the  protection 
of  the  Japanese  Legation,  the  Japanese  telegraph,  and  other 
property.  The  greater  number  of  the  Japanese  in  Korean 
Government  employment  fell  naturally  out  of  it  as  their  con- 
tracts expired,  and  quietly  retired  from  the  country.  Minis- 
ters of  experience,  proved  ability,  and  courtesy  of  demeanor, 
have  succeeded  to  the  post  once  occupied  by  Mr.  Otori  and 
Viscount  Miura.  There  has  been  scarcely  any  recent  inter- 
ference with  Korean  affairs,  and  the  Japanese  colonists  who 
were  much  given  to  bullying  and  blustering  are  on  greatly  im- 
proved behavior,  the  most  objectionable  among  them  having 
been  recalled  by  orders  from  home.  Diplomatically,  Japan 
has  carefully  avoided  friction  with  the  Korean  Government 
and  the  representatives  of  the  other  Powers.  But  to  infer 
from  this  that  she  has  abandoned  her  claims,  or  has  swerved 
from  her  determination  to  make  her  patronage  essential  to  the 
well-being  of  Korea  would  be  a  grave  mistake. 

It  has  been  said  that  whatever  Japan  lost  in  Korea  Russia 
gained.  It  is  true  that  the  King  in  his  terror  and  apprehen- 
sion threw  himself  upon  the  protection  of  the  Russian  Minis- 
ter, and  remained   for  more  than  a  year  under  the  shelter  of 


45^  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

the  Russian  flag,  and  that  at  his  request  a  Russian  Military 
Commission  arrived  to  reorganize  and  drill  the  Korean  army, 
that  Russia  presented  3,000  Berdan  rifles  to  Korea,  that  a 
Russian  financier  spent  the  autumn  of  1896  in  Seoul  investi- 
gating the  financial  resources  and  prospects  of  the  country, 
and  that  the  King,  warned  by  disastrous  experiences  of  be- 
trayal, prefers  to  trust  his  personal  safety  to  his  proximity  to 
the  Russian  military  quarters. 

But  "Russian  Ascendency,"  in  the  sense  of  "  ControV  in 
which  Japanese  ascendency  is  to  be  understood,  has  never 
existed.  The  Russian  Minister  used  the  undoubtedly  influ- 
ential position  which  circumstances  gave  him  with  unexampled 
moderation,  and  only  brought  his  influence  to  bear  on  the  King 
in  cases  of  grave  misrule.  The  influence  of  Russia,  however, 
grew  quietly  and  naturally,  with  little  of  external  manifes- 
tation, up  to  March,  1897,  when  the  publication  of  a  treaty, 
concluded  ten  months  before  between  Russia  and  Japan, ^ 
caused  something  of  a  revulsion  of  feeling  in  favor  of  the  lat- 
ter country,  and  Russia  has  been  slowly  losing  ground.  Her 
policy  is  too  pacific  to  allow  of  a  quarrel  with  Japan,  and  a 
quarrel  would  be  the  inevitable  result  of  any  present  attempt 
at  dictatorship  in  Korea.  So  far,  she  has  pursued  a  strictly 
opportunist  policy,  taking  no  steps  except  those  which  have 
been  forced  upon  her;  and  even  if  the  Korean  pear  were 
ready  to  drop  into  her  mouth,  I  greatly  doubt  if  she  would 
shake  the  tree. 

At  all  events,  Russia  let  the  opportunity  of  obtaining  as- 
cendency in  Korea  go  by.  It  is  very  likely  that  she  never  de- 
sired it.  It  may  be  quite  incompatible  with  other  aims,  at 
which  we  can  only  guess.  At  the  same  time,  the  influence  of 
Japan  is  quietly  and  steadily  increasing.  Certainly  the  great 
object  of  the  triple  intervention  in  the  treaty  negotiations  in 
Shimonoseki  was  to  prevent  Japan  from  gaining  a  foothold  on 
the  mainland  of  the  Asiatic  Continent ;  but  it  does  not  seem 

*  See  Appendix  E. 


Last  Words  on  Korea  457 

altogether  impossible  that,  by  playing  a  waiting  game  and 
profiting  by  previous  mistakes,  she,  without  assuming  a  formal 
protectorate,  may  be  able  to  add,  for  all  practical  purposes  of 
commerce  and  emigration,  a  mainland  province  to  her  Em- 
pire. Forecasts  are  dangerous  things,^  but  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  if  Russia,  not  content  with  such  quiet,  military  develop- 
ments as  may  be  in  prospect,  were  to  manifest  any  aggressive 
designs  on  Korea,  Japan  is  powerful  enough  to  put  a  brake  on 
the  wheel !  Korea,  however,  is  incapable  of  standing  alone, 
and  unless  so  difficult  a  matter  as  a  joint  protectorate  could  be 
arranged,  she  must  be  under  the  tutelage  of  either  Japan  or 
Russia. 

If  Russia  were  to  acquire  an  actual  supremacy,  the  usual 
result  would  follow.  Preferential  duties  and  other  imposts 
would  practically  make  an  end  of  British  trade  in  Korea  with 
all  its  large  potentialities.  The  effacement  of  British  political 
influence  has  been  effected  chiefly  by  a  policy  of  laissez-faire^ 
which  has  produced  on  the  Korean  mind  the  double  impres- 
sion of  indifference  and  feebleness,  to  which  the  dubious  and 
hazy  diplomatic  relationship  naturally  contributes.  If  Eng- 
land has  no  contingent  interest  in  the  political  future  of  a 
country  rich  in  undeveloped  resources  and  valuable  harbors, 
and  whose  possession  by  a  hostile  Power  might  be  a  serious 
peril  to  her  interests  in  the  Far  East,  her  policy  during  the 
last  few  years  has  been  a  sure  method  of  evidencing  her  un- 
concern. 

Though  we  may  have  abandoned  any  political  interest  in 
Korea,  the  future  of  British  trade  in  the  country  remains  an 
important  question.  Such  influence  as  England  possesses, 
being  exercised  through  a  non-official  channel,  and  therefore 
necessarily  indirect,  is  owing  to  the  abilities,  force,  and  diplo- 
matic tact  of  Mr.  M'Leavy  Brown,  the  Chief  Commissioner 

>  As  "  it  is  the  unexpected  which  happens,"  it  would  not  be  surprising 
if  certain  moves,  ostensibly  with  the  object  of  placing  the  independence  of 
Korea  on  a  firm  basis,  were  made  even  before  these  volumes  are  published. 


458  Korea  and  Her  Neighbors 

of  Customs,  formerly  of  H.B.M.'s  Chinese  Consular  Service. 
So  long  as  he  is  in  control  at  the  capital,  and  such  upright  and 
able  men  as  Mr.  Hunt,  Mr.  Oiesen,  and  Mr.  Osborne  are 
Commissioners  at  the  treaty  ports  (Appendix  D),  so  long  will 
England  be  commercially  important  in  Korean  estimation. 

The  Customs  revenue,  always  increasing,  and  collected  at  a 
cost  of  10  per  cent,  only,  is  the  backbone  of  Korean  finance ; 
and  everywhere  the  ability  and  integrity  of  the  administration 
give  the  Commissioners  an  influence  which  is  necessarily  in 
favor  of  England,  and  which  produces  an  impression  even  on 
corrupt  Korean  officialism.  That  this  service  should  remain  in 
our  hands  is  of  the  utmost  practical  importance.  In  the  days 
of  Japanese  ascendency  there  was  a  great  desire  to  upset  the 
present  arrangement,  but  it  was  frustrated  by  the  tact  and 
firmness  of  the  Chief  Commissioner.  The  next  danger  is  that 
it  should  pass  into  Russian  hands,  which  would  be  a  severe 
blow  to  our  prestige  and  interests.  Some  of  the  leading  Rus- 
sian papers  are  agitating  this  question,  and  the  Novoie  Vrei7iia 
of  9th  September,  1897,  in  writing  of  the  opening  of  the 
ports  of  Mok-po  and  Chi-nam-po  to  foreign  trade,  says : — 
"  These  encroachments  are  chiefly  due  to  the  cleverness  of  the 
British  officials  who  are  at  the  head  of  the  Financial  and  Cus- 
toms Departments  of  the  Korean  administration."  It  adds, 
*'If  Russia  tolerates  any  further  increase  in  this  policy  .  .  . 
Great  Britain  will  convert  the  country  into  one  of  her  best 
markets."  The  Novoie  Vremia  goes  on  to  urge  **  the  Russian 
Government  to  exercise,  before  it  is  too  late,  a  more  searching 
surveillance  than  at  present,  to  take  steps  to  reduce  the  num- 
ber of  British  officials  in  the  Korean  Government  (the  Cus- 
toms), and  to  compel  Japan  to  withdraw  what  are  practically 
the  military  garrisons  which  she  has  established  in  Korea." 

Such,  in  brief  outline,  is  the  position  of  political  affairs  in 
Korea  at  the  close  of  1897.  Her  long  and  close  political  con- 
nection with  China  is  severed ;  she  has  received  from  Japan 
a  gift  of  independence  which  she  knows  not  how  to  use; 


Last  Words  on  Korea  459 

England,  for  reasons  which  may  be  guessed  at,  has  withdrawn 
from  any  active  participation  in  her  affairs;  the  other  Euro- 
pean Powers  have  no  interests  to  safeguard  in  that  quarter ; 
and  her  integrity  and  independence  are  at  the  mercy  of  the 
most  patient  and  the  most  ambitious  of  Empires,  whose  inter- 
ests in  the  Far  East  are  conflicting,  if  not  hostile. 

It  is  with  great  regret  that  I  take  leave  of  Korea,  with  Rus- 
sia and  Japan  facing  each  other  across  her  destinies.  The  dis- 
taste I  felt  for  the  country  at  first  passed  into  an  interest  which 
is  almost  affection,  and  on  no  previous  journey  have  I  made 
dearer  and  kinder  friends,  or  those  from  whom  I  parted  more 
regretfully.  I  saw  the  last  of  Seoul  in  snow  in  the  blue  and 
violet  atmosphere  of  one  of  the  loveliest  of  her  winter  morn- 
ings, and  the  following  day  left  Chemulpo  in  a  north  wind  of 
merciless  severity  in  the  little  Government  steamer  Hyenik  for 
Shanghai,  where  the  quaint  Korean  flag  excited  much  interest 
and  questioning  as  she  steamed  slowly  up  the  river. 


APPENDIXES 


APPENDIX 


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ian Mission  (North) 

1884 

11 

2 

5 

4 

25 

American  Presbyter- 

ian Mission  (South) 

1892 

4 

2 

2 

3 

Australian  Presbyter- 

- 

13 

8 

5 

210 

635 

3 

2 

510 

ian  Mission 

1891 

1 

3 

1 

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Canada    . 

1889 

1 

1 

- 

American  Meth.  Epis. 

Mission  (North) 

1885 

8 

7 

7 

4 

4 

7 

7 

57 

588 

2 

266 

American  Meth.  Epis. 

Mission  (South)      . 

1896 

1 

Ella  Thiuj;  Memorial 

Mission  (Baptist)    . 

1895 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

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gation of  the  Gospel 

1890 

9 

7 

3 

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Etrangeres    . 

1784 

26 

8 

19 

466 

18 

1,250 

515 

28,802 

*  Besides  much  in  labor  and  in  contributions  for  support  of  native  evangelists, 

462 


A. 

FOR  KOREA,  1896. 


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29,786 

$647.37 
160 

schools,  and  the  enlargement  and  construction  of  Church  edifices, 

463 


464 


Appendix  B 


APPENDIX  B 

Direct  Foreign  Trade  of  Korea,  1886-96 

{i.e.  net  value  of  foreign  goods  imported  in  foreign,  or  foreign- 
type,  vessels  into  the  Treaty  Ports,  and  taken  cognizance  of 
by  the  foreign  Customs  ;  and  of  native  goods  similarly  ex- 
ported and  re-exported  from  the  Treaty  Ports  to  foreign 
countries.) 


Year. 

Net  imports  of  Foreign 

Goods  {i.e.  exclusive  of 

Foreign  Goods  re-exported 

to  Foreign  Countries). 

Exports  and  Re-exports' 
of  Native  Goods  to 
Foreign  Countries. 

Total. 

1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 
1890 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 

$2,474,185 
2,815,441 
3,046,443 
3,377,815 
4,727,839 
5,256,468 
4,598,485 
3,880,155 
5,831,563 
8,088,213 
6,531,324 

$    504,225 
804,996 
867,058 
1,233,841 
3,550,478 
3,366,344 
2,443,739 
1,698,116 
2,311,215 
2,481,808 
4,728,700 

$2,978,410 
3,620,437 
3,913,501 
4,611,656 

8,278  317 
8,622,812 
7,042,224 
5,578,271 
8,142,778 
10,570,021 
11,260,024 

Note. — The  increase  in  the  foreign  trade  of  Kovea  between  1886  and 
1896  may  not  have  been  so  great  as  the  above  figures  w^ithout  explanation 
would  imply.  It  is  generally  stated  that  side  by  side  with  the  trade  in 
foreign  vessels  at  the  Treaty  Ports  a  considerable  traffic  has  been  carried 
on  by  junk  between  non-Treaty  ports  in  Korea  and  ports  in  China  and 
Japan.  This  junk  trade  was  probably  much  larger  in  the  earlier  years  of 
the  period  the  figures  of  which  are  compared,  and  the  rapid  development 
shown  in  the  table  may  be  partly  due  to  the  increasing  transfer  of  traffic 
from  native  craft  to  foreign-type  vessels  which  offer  greater  regularity  and 
safety  and  less  delay. 

'  i.e.  including  native  goods  imported  from  another  Korean  port  and  re-exported  to 
a  foreign  country. 


Appendix   B 


465 


Comparative  Table  of  the  net  Dues  and  Duties  Collected 
AT  THE  Three  Ports  for  the  Years  1884-96 


Year. 

Import  Duties. 

Export  Duties. 

Tonnage  Dues. 

Total. 

1884 

$79,373.71 

$19,234.74 

$3,478.19 

$102,086.64 

1885 

119,364.41 

19,602.22 

2,996.90 

141,963  53 

1886 

132,757.12 

24,812.11 

2,708.75 

160,277.98 

1887 

203,271.68 

40,384.52 

3,045.12 

246,701.32 

1888 

219,759.81 

43,330.62 

4,124.55 

267.214.98 

1889 

213,457.49 

61,835.23 

4,707.04 

279,999.76 

1890 

327,460.11 

178,552.14 

8,587.90 

514,600.15 

1891 

372,022.07 

168,096.36 

8,940.26 

549,058.69 

1892 

308,954.13 

123,212.24 

6,247.05 

438,41342 

1893 

262,679  28 

85,720.22 

5,717.16 

354,116.66 

1894 

357,828.34 

115,779.33 

7,398  64 

481,006.31 

1895 

601,588.06 

124,261.22 

15,448.20 

741,297.48 

1896 

448,137.16 

226,342.45 

17,304.75 

691,784.36 

CoMPARAVivE  Statement  of  the  Japanese  and  non- Japanese  Cotton 
Goods  Imported  into  Korea  during  the  Year  1896 


Classi- 
fication 

Japa 

nese. 

Non-Japanese. 

Total. 

Description.' 

of 

Quan- 
tity. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Shirtings— Gray 

$ 

$ 

1 

Plain 

Pieces 

6,715 

23,660 

428,911 

1,567,967 

435,626 

1,591,627 

Shirtings— Wliite 

31 

121 

5,445 

21,768 

5,476 

21,889 

T-Cloths      . 

1,211 

2,719 

1,660 

4,177 

2,871 

6,896 

Drills 

163 

634 

11,583 

47,998 

11,746 

48,632 

Turkey-Red  Cloths 

1,652 

3,663 

7,519 

17,349 

9,171 

21,012 

Sheetings    . 

30,184 

115,914 

14,793 

58,455 

44,977 

174,369 

Cotton  Flannel    . 

762 

2,870 

1,432 

3,927 

2,194 

6,797 

Cotton  Blankets  . 

Pairs 

1,625 

3,883 

1,625 

3,883 

Cotton    Yarn    and 

Thread    . 

Piculs 
Value 

12,821 

368,064 
521,528 

1,795 

71,386 
1,793,027 

14,616 

439,450 

2,314,555 

Cotton  Goods,  Un- 

classed     . 

» 

1 

644,671 

2379,319 

1,023,990 

Total    . 

Value 

1,166,199 

2,172,346 

3,338,545 

»  Chiefly  narrow-width  cloth,  gray  or  white,  checked  or  plain.  "  Including  $2,549  Chinese  Cottons, 


466 


Appendix  C 


APPENDIX  C 


Return  of  Principal  Articles  of  Export  (net)  to  Foreign  Coun- 
tries for  the  Years  1896-95 


Cliemulpo. 

Fusan. 

Won 

-san. 

Articles. 

1896. 

1895. 

1896. 

1895. 

1896. 

1895. 

Beans 

£48,485 

£45,679 

£65,731 

£22,337 

£24,132 

£32,049 

Fish  (dried  manure) 

.  , 

.  . 

4,296 

639 

4,394 

312 

Cowliides  . 

8,789 

14,036 

11,077 

37,225 

4,424 

6,152 

Ginseng 

29J39 

575 

. 

Paper 

2.326 

1,785 

1,806 

2.236 

24 

9 

Rice     .... 

92,444 

62,390 

178,852 

17,646 

549 

Seaweed     . 

55 

40 

6,705 

3,809 

Sundries     . 

12.713 

8,992 

13,633 

9,361 

2,101 

3,590 

Total        .       . 

£194,551 

£133,497 

£282,100 

£93,253 

£35,624 

£42,112 

1896. 

1895. 

Currency. 

Sterling. 

Currency. 

Sterling. 

Total  exports  from  Korea    .    .    . 

$4,728,700 

£512,275 

$2,481,808 

£268,862 

Appendix  C 


467 


Return  of  Principal  Articles  of  Foreign  Import  (net :  i.e.  ex- 
cluding Re-exports)  to  Open  Ports  of  Korea  during  the  Years 
1896-95. 


Articles. 

Chenmlpo. 

Fusan. 

Won-san. 

1896. 

1895. 

1896. 

1895. 

1896. 

1895. 

Cotton  goods— 
Shirtings 

£103.196 
6,956 

12,508 
6,736 
14,015 

27,271 
5.634 
14,394 

£172.549 
11,554 

7,199 

8,594 

20,129 

26,098 
4,876 
29,065 

£51 .920 
10,670 

24;9i4 

11,018 

222 

6,363 

£54.911 
8,183 

]9,'432 
3,886 
4,'836 

£21,982 
1,072 

-        40 
23 

30,867 

1,590 
1,871 
8.732 

£55,190 
2,066 

1,330 
4,500 
38,608 

3,483 
4,364 
15,125 

Lawns  and  muslins 

Sheetings- 
Japanese 

English  and  American 

Japanese  piece-goods.... 

Yarn- 
Japanese 

English  and  Indian 

Other  cottons 

Total 

£190,710 

£280,064 

£105,137 

£91,238 

£66,177 

£124,666 

Woolens 

3,266 

4,933 

578 

884 

182 

333 

Metals 

7,172 

8,620 

15,253 

10,342 

7,690  1       6,217 

Sundries- 
Dyes  

4.818 
22,358 
4,798 

20,035 

9,312 

5,717 

3.018 

28,943 

89,417 

10,794 
13.641 
3,575 

9,819 

457 

3,859 

9.639 

65.057 

111,902 

2,363 
3,546 
4,571 

9,560 
4.513 
2,358 
2,972 
8,167 
50,828 

3,084 
1,402 
3,348 

7,479 
478 
2.024 
2.818 
5,606 
38,859 

777 
2,241 
2,018 

6,463 

69 

381 

1,203 

4,058 

26,241 

1,667 
3  154 

Grass-cloths. 

Matches 

1,680 

3,990 

1 

Kerosene  oil- 
American 

Kussian 

Provisions 

Sake 

1  176 

Silk  piece-goods 

12.848 

Other  articles 

30,884 

Total 

£188,416 

£228,743 

£88,878 

£65,098 

£43,451 

£55,400 

Grand  total.... 

£382,203 
1,088 

£522,360 
596 

£209,846 

£167,562 

£117,500 

£186,616 
126 

Less  excess  of  re- 
exports over  im- 
ports in  some  ar- 
ticles  

Net  total 

£381,115 

£521,764 

£209.846 

£167,562 

£117,500 

£186.490 

1896. 

1895. 

Currency. 

Sterling. 

Currency. 

Sterling. 

Total  for  Korea 

$6,539,630' 

£708,461 

88,084,465' 

£875,816 

'1  dollar  =  2s.  2d. 


468 


Appendix  C 


vo 
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3,612 
65,654 

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4,840 

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4,732 
210,645 

10.381 
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118,145 
1,082 
2,202 
10,375 

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American  .    . 
British        .    . 
Chinese      .    . 
German      .    . 
Japanese  .    . 
Norwegian     . 
Russian     .    . 
Korean       .    . 

Appendix  D 


469 


APPENDIX  D 

The  population  of  the  three  Korean  treaty  ports  was  as  follows  in  Jan- 
uary, 1897  =— 

Chemulpo  Settlement. 

Japanese 3,904 

Chinese 404 

British 15 

German 12 

American 7 

French 7 

Norwegian 3 

Greek 3 

Italian i 

Portuguese i 

Total         ....  4,357 

Estimated  native  population           ....  6,756 


Fusan  Settlement. 

Japanese 5,5o8 

Chinese 34 

British 10 

American 7 

German 2 

Danish            ........  I 

French I 

Italian            i 

Total         ....  5,564 
Estimated  native  population  of  Fusan  City  and  the 

Prefecture  of  Tung  nai           ....  33,000 


470 


Appendix  D 


Japanese 

Chinese 

American 

German 

British 

French 

Russian 

Danish 

Norwegian 

Total 
Estimated  native  population 


W5n-san  Settlement. 
1,299 

39 
8 

3 

2 
2 

2 

I 
I 


i»357 
15,000 


Appendix  E  471 


APPENDIX  E 

Treaty  between  Japan  and  Russia  with   Reply   of  H.E.  the 

Korean  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 

MEMORANDUM 

The  Representatives  of  Russia  and  Japan  at  Seoul,  having  conferred 
under  the  identical  instructions  from  their  respective  Governments,  have 
arrived  at  the  following  conclusions : — 

While  leaving  the  matter  of  His  Majesty's,  the  King  of  Korea,  return 
to  the  Palace  entirely  to  his  own  discretion  and  judgment,  the  Representa- 
tives of  Russia  and  Japan  will  friendly  advise  His  Majesty  to  return  to 
that  place,  when  no  doubts  could  be  entertained  concerning  his  safety. 

The  Japanese  Representative,  on  his  part,  gives  the  assurance,  that  the 
most  complete  and  effective  measures  will  be  taken  for  the  control  of 
Japanese  soshi. 

The  present  Cabinet  Ministers  have  been  appointed  by  His  Majesty  by 
his  own  free  will,  and  most  of  them  have  held  ministerial  or  other  high 
offices  during  the  last  two  years  and  are  known  to  be  liberal  and  moderate 
men. 

The  two  Representatives  will  always  aim  at  recommending  His  Majesty 
to  appoint  liberal  and  moderate  men  as  Ministers,  and  to  show  clemency 
to  his  subjects. 

The  Representative  of  Russia  quite  agrees  with  the  Representative  of 
Japan  that  at  the  present  state  of  affairs  in  Korea  it  may  be  necessary  to 
have  Japanese  guards  stationed  at  some  places  for  the  protection  of  the 
Japanese  telegraph  line  between  Fusan  and  Seoul,  and  that  these  guards, 
now  consisting  of  three  companies  of  soldiers,  should  be  withdrawn  as 
soon  as  possible  and  replaced  by  gendarmes,  who  will  be  distributed  as 
follows :  fifty  men  at  Fusan,  fifty  men  at  Ka-heung,  and  ten  men  each  at 
ten  intermediate  posts  between  Fusan  and  Seoul. 

This  distribution  may  be  liable  to  some  changes,  but  the  total  number 
of  the  gendarme  force  shall  never  exceed  two  hundred  men,  who  will 
afterwards  gradually  be  withdrawn  from  such  places,  where  peace  and 
order  have  been  restored  by  the  Korean  Government. 

For  the  protection  of  the  Japanese  settlements  at  Seoul  and  the  open 
ports  against  possible  attacks  by  the  Korean  populace,  two  companies  of 
Japanese  troops  may  be  stationed  at  Seoul,  one  company  at  Fusan  and 


472  Appendix  E 

one  at  Won-san,  each  company  not  to  exceed  two  hundred  men.  These 
troops  will  be  quartered  near  the  settlements,  and  shall  be  withdrawn  as 
soon  as  no  apprehension  of  such  attacks  could  be  entertained. 

For  the  protection  of  the  Russian  Legation  and  Consulates  the  Russian 
Government  may  also  keep  guards  not  exceeding  the  number  of  Japanese 
troops  at  those  places,  and  which  will  be  withdrawn  as  soon  as  tranquillity 
in  the  interior  is  completely  restored. 

(Signed)  C.  Waeber, 

Representative  of  Russia. 

J.  KOMURA, 

Representative  of  Japan. 
Seoul,  \\th  May,  1896. 

PROTOCOL 
The  Secretary  of  State,  Prince  Lobanow-Rostovskey,  Foreign  Minister 
of  Russia,  and  the  Marshal  Marquis  Yamagata,  Ambassador  Extraordi- 
nary of  His  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  having  exchanged  their  views 
on  the  situation  of  Korea,  agreed  upon  the  following  articles : — 

I 

For  the  remedy  of  the  financial  difficulties  of  Korea,  the  Governments 
of  Russia  and  Japan  will  advise  the  Korean  Government  to  retrench  all 
superfluous  expenditure,  and  to  establish  a  balance  between  expenses  and 
revenues.  If,  in  consequence  of  reforms  deemed  indispensable,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  have  recourse  to  foreign  loans,  both  Governments  shall  by 
mutual  consent  give  their  support  to  Korea. 

II 

The  Governments  of  Russia  and  Japan  shall  endeavor  to  leave  to  Korea, 
as  far  as  the  financial  and  economical  situation  of  that  country  will  per- 
mit, the  formation  and  maintenance  of  a  national  armed  force  and  police 
of  such  proportions  as  will  be  sufficient  for  the  preservation  of  the  in- 
ternal peace,  without  foreign  support. 

Ill 

With  a  view  to  facilitate  communications  with  Korea,  the  Japanese 
Government  may  continue  {contimiera)  to  administer  the  telegraph  lines 
which  are  at  present  in  its  hands. 

It  is  reserved  to  Russia  (the  rights)  of  building  a  telegraph  line  be- 
tween Seoul  and  her  frontiers. 

These  different  lines  can  be  repurchased  by  the  Korean  Government, 
so  soon  as  it  has  the  means  to  do  so. 


Appendix  E  473 

IV 

In  case  the  above  matters  should  require  a  more  exact  or  detailed  ex- 
planation,  or  if  subsequently  some  other  points  should  present  themselves 
upon  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  confer,  the  Representatives  of  both 
Governments  shall  be  authorized  to  negotiate  in  a  spirit  of  friendship. 

(Signed)        Lobanow. 
Yamagata. 
Moscow,  9M  June,  1896. 

The  following  is  the  exact  translation  of  the  reply  sent  to  the  Japanese 
Minister  by  the  Korean  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  concerning  the  Russo- 
Japanese  Convention : — 

Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
Mar.  gth,  2nd  year  of  Kxin-yang  (1897). 
Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  despatch  of 
the  2nd  instant,  informing  me  that,  on  the  14th  day  of  May  last,  a  memo- 
randum was  signed  at  Seoul  by  H.E.  Mr.  Komura,  the  former  Japanese 
Minister  Resident,  and  the  Russian  Minister,  and  that,  on  the  4th  of  June 
of  the  same  year,  an  Agreement  was  signed  at  Moscow,  by  H.E.  Marshal 
Yamagata,  the  Japanese  Ambassador,  and  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs 
of  Russia ;  and  that  these  two  documents  have  been  laid  publicly  before 
the  Imperial  Diet.  You  further  inform  me  that  on  the  26th  ultimo  you 
received  a  telegram  from  your  Government,  pointing  out  that  the  above- 
mentioned  Agreement  and  memorandum  in  no  way  reflect  upon,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  are  meant  to  strengthen,  the  independence  of  Korea, — this 
being  the  object  which  the  Governments  of  Japan  and  Russia  had  in 
view, — and  you  cherish  the  confident  hope  that  my  Government  will  not 
fail  to  appreciate  this  intention.  In  accordance  with  telegraphic  instruc- 
tions received  from  the  Imperial  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  you  enclose 
copies  of  the  Agreements  referred  to. 

I  beg  to  express  my  sincere  thanks  for  your  despatch  and  the  informa- 
tion it  conveys.  I  would  observe,  however,  that  as  my  Government  has 
not  joined  in  concluding  these  two  Agreements,  its  freedom  of  action  as 
an  independent  Power  cannot  be  restricted  by  their  provisions. — I  have, 
etc., 

(Signed)  Ye  Wanyong, 

Minister  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs, 

H.E.  Mr.  Kato, 

Minister  of  Japan,  etc. 


INDEX 


Abbot,  a  refined,  84. 

Absolutism  of  the  Korean  crown 
reimposed,  377. 

Agricultural  implements,  rude 
and  few,  161. 

Agriculture,  primitive  charac- 
ter of,  78;  improved  methods 
in  the  Han  Valley,  100;  meth- 
ods of,  160  ;  ministry  of,  383. 

Ah  Wong,  31. 

Allen,  Mr.  Clement,  185;  Dr., 
352,  353.  354,  443- 

Altar-piece,  an  unique,  148. 

American  Missions,  22,  63,  172, 
279,  311,  346-350,  388. 

Am-nok  River,  the,   14,  17,  74. 

Amur  Province,  the,  234,  242. 

Amur  River,  the,  219,  220,  233, 
241,  242,  244. 

An-byong,  163. 

Ancestral  temple,  an,  87;  wor- 
ship, 61,  63,  88,  401. 

An-chin-Miriok,  345. 

Ang-paks,  77,  125,  157. 

Animal  and  Bird  life,  73,  74,  150. 

An-ju,  328. 

An-kil  Yung  Pass,  crossing  the, 
330. 

An-mun-chai,  the,  138,  141,  144, 
146. 

An  object  of  curiosity,  88,  94, 
97,  127,  146. 

Appenzeller,  Rev.  H.  G.,  388. 

A-ra-riing  style  of  music,  166. 

Archipelago,  a  remarkable,   15. 

Army,  56,  57,  210  ;  standing,  an 
extravagance,  434. 

A-san,  206;  battle  of,  207. 

Assassination  of  the  Queen,  271, 
455. 


Assembly,  a  national,  373. 
Atai-jo    king,  169. 
Australian  ladies,  mission  work 
by,  28. 

Baikal  horses,  237. 

Banks  and  Banking,  26. 

"Bannermen,"  (irregular  sol- 
diery) of  Manchuria,  190,  191. 

Barter,  the  mode  of  exchange,  78. 

Bas-reliefs,  84. 

Beacon  fires,  97,  105. 

Beheading  abolished,  265. 

"Believing  Mind,  Temple  of 
the,"  139. 

Bell  of  Song-do,  295;  of  Seoul, 
the  great  (see  Seoul). 

Birukoff,  Mr.,  388. 

Botany,  Native,  17,  95,  98. 

Bows  and  arrows,  reliance  on 
in  Manchuria,  igo. 

Bridges,  infamous  character  of 
the,  171  ;  precarious,  293. 

Brigands  of  Manchuria,  189. 

British  political  influence  and 
trade,  457. 

Broughton  Bay,  junk  excursion 
in,  15,  173. 

Brown,  Mr.  M'Leavy,  37,  369, 
397,  435,  448,  457. 

Buddha,  statues  of,  136,  144. 

Buddha  worship,  137. 

Buddhism,  disestablishment  of, 
61;  moribund,  142;  introduc- 
tion of,  148  ;  palmy  days  of 
Korean,  169;  gross  supersti- 
tions of,  399;  relics  of  Korean, 
286. 

Buddhist  hells,  representations 
of,  139;  nunneries,  115,  135. 


475 


476 


Index 


Buddhistic  legends,  145. 

Buddhist  monastery  and  tem- 
ple, 63,  76,  79,  84,  319. 

Bull,  Korean,  as  a  beast  of 
burden,  36,  no  ;  used  for 
ploughing,  162. 

Burial  customs,  63,  204,  286, 
288-291. 

Burial  places,  36,  61. 

Butchers,  methods  of,  172. 

Cabinet,  the,  371,  374,  375;  min- 
isters, execution  of,  367, 

Campbell,  Mr., 133,  135,  138,  826. 

Carles,  Consul,  130,  329,  355. 

Cavalry,  Chinese,  General  Tso's 
brigade,  210. 

Cave,  a  remarkable,  99. 

Cham-su-ki,  95,  96;  tree,  96. 

Chang-an  Sa,  137,  141,  142,  143, 
144,  150,  160. 

Charms,  408. 

Cha-san,  322,  344.  y 

Che-chon,  106, 

Chefoo,  arrival  at,  185;  return 
to,  213. 

Chemulpo,  20,  30,  33  ;  war  ex- 
citement at,  178  ;  exodus  of 
Chinese  from,  182  ;  return  of 
authoress  to,  245;  accident  on 
the  way  to,  267;  arrival  at, 
357;  railroad  from  to  the  cap- 
ital, 450;  leave  from,  459; 
banks  at,  32,  436;  cemetery 
at,  318;  Chinese  settlement 
in,  31,  245;  Japanese  settle- 
ment in,  31,  181,  246;  Korean 
quarter,  33;  occupation  of,  by 
Japanese,  206,  245;  population 
of.  469,  trade  in,  33. 

Children,  non-burial  of  in  Man- 
churia, 204  ;  sale  of  daemons, 
412. 

Chil-sung  Mon,  the,  315,  316. 

China,  diplomatic  relations  with 
Korea,  19,  182. 

Chinese  in  Korea,  12,  20,  182; 
predominant  influence  of,  22, 
452;  their  settlement  in  Che- 
mulpo, 31;  the  colony  at 
Seoul,    44;    consternation    in 


Chinese  colony,  182;    connec- 
tion with  Korea  severed,  458. 
Chinese  Manchuria,  237,  244. 
Chin-nam-po,  19,  357,  458. 
Chino-Japanese   War,  origin  of 

the,  206. 
Choi  Sok  daemon,  420, 
Chol-muri  Kaut,  the,  411. 

Chol-yong-To,  23. 

Chong-dong,  427,  437. 

Chong-phong,  town  of,  90,  93, 
94;  female  curiosity  at,  94. 

Chong-sop  (abbots),  141. 

Chon-shin  daemons,  418. 

Chon-yaing,  88. 

Chosen  Magazine,  The,  440. 

Cho  Wang  daemon,  420. 

Christianity, progress  of, 201, 202. 

Christian  missions  (see  Mission- 
aries and  the  Missions). 

Christians,  native,  65,  227. 

Christian  work  in  Seoul,  63;  in 
Korea,  65;  Korean  estimate 
of,  438. 

Christie,  Dr.,  198,  201,  202,  211. 

Chu-la,  25,  306. 

Chun-chhon,  109. 

Chung-Chong-Do,  75,   84. 

Chyu-pha  Pass,  the,  129. 

Class  privileges,  loi,  446,  450. 

Climate,  healthy  character  of, 
16;  at  Mukden,  201. 

Coasts,  character  of,  15;  tour 
along,  150. 

Coinage  of,  20,  66,  398. 

Concubinage,  a  recognized  in- 
stitution, 342. 

Confucian  college,  the,  382; 
temples,  76,  83,  94,  103. 

Confucianism  in  Korea,  21,  22. 

Conjugal  fidelity,   116,  341,  343, 

Conspiracies,  frequency  of,  447. 

Constitutional  changes,  371-386. 

Conventions  with  China,  re- 
nunciation of  the,  207. 

Cookery  of  the  Koreans,  154. 

Corfe,  Bishop,  33,  37,  49,  63,  64, 
66,  68. 

Corfe  Mission  at  Seoul,  30,  33, 
64,  68. 

Corruption,  431,  448. 


Index 


477 


Cossacks,  Russian,  rigid  discip- 
line of,  238. 

Costumes,  26,  27,  45,  46. 

Council  of  State,  formation  of 
a,  370,  375. 

Council  of  State  (Korean),  or- 
ganization of,  375. 

Court  functionaries,  428,  430. 

Crown  Prince,  the,  253,  273, 
362,   365,  428;    Princess,   the, 

273. 
Customs,    Korean,    59,    78,    loi, 

114,  127,  265,  266,  287,  359. 
Customs  revenue  the  backbone 

of  Korean  finance,  458. 
Curzon,  the  Hon.  G.  W.,  138. 

Daemon  festivals,  410, 
Dcemons,  classification  of,  421. 
Daemon    Worship,    79;    fear    of 

daemons,  127,  129;  daemonism, 

399,  404,  409,  417. 
Dallet's  Histoire  de  1'  Eglise  de 

Koree,  11;  quoted  in  regard  to 

the  position  of  women, 341, 355. 
Dancing  women,  344,  352. 
Death,  customs  connected  with, 

63. 
Deluge,  a  Manchurian,  193. 
Diamond  Mountain  Monasteries, 

133- 

Diamond  Mountain,  the,  74,  75, 
103,  129,  133,  140. 

Disciples,  Five  Hundred,  Tem- 
ple to,  170. 

Distinctions  between  Patrician 
and  Plebeian  abolished,  385. 

Divination,  407,  408. 

Dog-infested  Seoul,  47. 

Dog  meat,  use  of,  154. 

Dogs,  47,  72. 

Dolmens,  131, 

Domestic  animals,  few,  161; 
life  unknown,  355;  slaves,  47. 

Domiciliary  visit,  304. 

Dragon  daemons,  417. 

Drunkenness  common,  91. 

Dwellings,  77. 

Dye,  General,  American  mili- 
tary adviser,  271,  272,  277,  279. 

Dynasty,  Korean,  worn  out,  255. 


Eastern  Siberia,  maritime  prov- 
inces of,  242-244. 

Eastern  Siberian,  drift  of  popu- 
lation to,  244. 

Edgar,  H.  M.  S.,  302. 

Edicts.     See  Royal. 

Education,  143,  203,  387,  438; 
the  ministry  of,  382,  391. 

Education  and  Foreign  Trade, 
387. 

Education  in  the  hamlets,  79. 

"  Eight  Views,"  the  155. 

Elm  trees,  fine,  93. 

English  mission,  the  first,  63. 

English-speaking  Koreans  at 
Seoul,  4g. 

Eternal  Rest,  Temple  of,  134. 

Eui-chyeng  Pu  (the  cabinet), 371, 
377. 

Europeans,  Korean  estimate  of, 
438. 

Examinations  for  official  posi- 
tion, 152;  royal  exams,  abol- 
ished,  388. 

Exorcists  and  Exorcism,  114, 
344,  350,  400,  405,  423. 

Exports  and  Imports,  392;  re- 
turns of,  466,  467. 

Extortions  and  tyrannies,  450. 

Falconry,  74. 

Farmers,  447,  450. 

Fauna  of,  16. 

Fengtien  Cavalry  Brigade,  210. 

Ferguson  &  Co.,  Messrs.,  185. 

Fermented  liquors,  91,  92. 

Ferries,  104. 

Ferry  boat,  an  ingenious,  131. 

Festivals,  410-413. 

Fetishes,  416,  421. 

Fever,  attack  of,  193. 

Finance,  396. 

Fire  Dragon  Pool,  the  145. 

Fish  and  Fishing,  158. 

"Five      Hundred       Disciples," 

temple  of  the,  170. 
Floods  in  Manchuria,  193. 
Flora  of,  17. 
Forced  labor,  337. 
Foreign  Goods,  trade  in,  24,  387 

391,  395,  464. 


478 


Index 


Foreign  liquors,  love  of,  91; 
Office,  the,  381. 

Forest  wealth,  17. 

Formosa,  transfer  of ,  269. 

Fortress,  an  ancient,  105. 

"  Four  Sages,"  Hall  of  the,  136. 

Fox,  Mr.,  37,  39. 

French  clocks,  rage  for  at  Y6 
Ju,  90,  91. 

Frescoes,  curious,  60,  319. 

Friendly  character  of  people,  80. 

"  Frog-boxes,"  408. 

Funerals, observances  at,  62,  286. 

Fusan,  20,  23,  24,  25;  its  Japan- 
ese character,  26;  markets  of, 
28;  Europeans  in,  178;  Jap- 
anese soldiers  in,  245,  454; 
population  of,  469. 

Gale,   Mr.,  167,  173;  Mrs.,  173. 

Game,  174. 

Gap  Pass,  the,  36,  181. 

Gardner,  Mr.  (acting consul),  35, 
183;  Mrs.  and  Miss,  37. 

Gautama,  a  shrine  of,  137. 

Geographical  position  deter- 
mines Korea's  political  rela- 
tionships, 452. 

Geology  and  the  geological  for- 
mation, 15. 

Gesang,  The,  (singing  and  danc- 
ing girls)  of  Phyong-yang, 
352,  353- 

Ginseng,  "the  elixir  of  life,"  296; 
extent  of  its  cultivation,  297; 
preparation   for  market,   298. 

Girl-babies,  not  specially  wel- 
come in  a  family,  300,  341. 

Girls,  seclusion  of,  119. 

Godobin,  Fort,  214. 

God  of  War,  temple  to  the,  319. 

Gold-digging,  108,  322,  324. 

Gold-dust  exports,  108. 

"  Golden  Sand,  the  river  of,"  80. 

Gold  ornaments,  108. 

Gorge,  a  grand,  95. 

Government  departments  (Ko- 
rean) reorganized,  381. 

Government  Gazette^  the,  373,  374, 
377. 

'*  Government  Hospital,"  the, 64. 

"  Great  Fifteenth  Day,"  the  266. 


Greathouse,  General,  76. 
Greathouse,  Mr.,  441. 
Greek   Church    in   Siberia,    229; 
its  Litany,  231. 

Ha-chin,  its  ugly  women,  97. 
Ha  Ch'i  style  of  music,  166. 
Ha-in  class,  the,  448. 
Hair-cropping    edict,   359,   363. 
"  Half-way  Place,"  the,  91, 
"  Hall  of  the  Four  Sages,"  136, 
Ham-gyong  Do,  219,  223,  233. 
Ham-gyong  Province,  156,   163. 
Hanka  Lake,  242,  244. 
Han  Kang,  village  of,  68,  70,  76. 
Han  River,  35,  36,  40,  68,  71,74, 

75,  77,  80,  85,  92,  99,  103,  106, 
no;  a  cheap  and  convenient 
highway,  in;  descent  of  the, 
105;  fauna  and  flora  of,  71,  72, 
98;  rapids  of,  75,  92,  93,  loi, 
102,  105,  no,  in;  scenery 
around  the,  71. 

Han  valley,  inhabitants   of  the, 

76,  78-79;  cultivation  of  the, 
100;  limestone  cliffs  of  the, 
104;  schools  in  the,  79;  tem- 
perature of  the,  81. 

Harbors  of  Fusan  and  Won-San, 

14,  30. 
Hart,  Sir  Robert,  213. 
Hats,  monstrous,  345. 
Heidemann,   Mr.,  223,  228,  231. 
Hemp  cultivation,  95. 
Hermit  City,  the,  37, 
"  Hermit  Nation,"  the,    opened 

by  the  treaties  of  1883,  11. 
Hillier,   Mr.,   183,  246,  251,  259, 

269,  281,  283. 
Hills,  denudation  of,  17. 
*'  Hill  Towns,"  the,  308. 
Hiroshima,  trial  of  assassins  at, 

277. 
Hoa-chung,  151,  152. 
Hoang-chyong  San,  153. 
Home  Office,  the,  381. 
Homesteads  of  the  Han  Valley, 

79- 
Hong,  Colonel,  271,  272,  274. 
Hon-j6,  293. 
Ho-pai, or  divining  table, the, 408. 


Index 


479 


Hospitals  supported  and  con- 
ducted by  the  Missions,  33. 

Household  spirits,  418. 

Hulbert,  Rev.  H.  B.,  164,  165, 
166,  391. 

Hu-nan  Chang,  94. 

Hun-chun,  228,  230,  237;  Chi- 
nese at,  237,  238. 

Hun-ho  river,  the,  199. 

Hunt,  Mr.,  25,  458. 

Hwang-hai  Do,  16. 

Hwang-hai  Province,  303. 

Hyon,  Colonel,  272. 

Idleness  of  the  nobles  at  Seoul,  46 

Im,  accident  to  my  servant,  331. 

Images,  stone,  170,  171. 

Im-jin,  292. 

Im-jin  Gang,  the,  292. 

Immorality,  341. 

Import  trade,  value  of,  393. 

Incantations,  425. 

Independence  Arch,  the,  439. 

Independence  of  Korea  assured 

by  the  Japanese,  247;  opposed 

by  the  native  officials,  262. 
Independence,  proclamation  of, 

247. 
Independent  newspaper,  the,  439, 

440. 
Industries,  26. 
Inns,  regular  and  irregular,  124, 

125,  157,  294,  326. 
Inouye,    Count,    247,    251,    261, 

262,  268,  270,  274,  280. 
Inscription,  an  amusing,  loi. 
Interior  of   the   country,  efforts 

to  reach,  49,  66. 
Interrupted   Shadow,    Island  of 

the,  23. 
Inundation  in  Manchuria,  195. 
Isolation  maintained  up  to  1876, 

19. 
I-tai,  the  innkeeper,  31,  245. 
Itinerary  of  travel,  357,  358. 

Jaisohn,  Dr.,  129,  389,  439. 
Japanese,  designs  of  in  Korea, 
181,     206  ;     lacking     in    tact, 

263,  453;   in  Korea,  26;    their 
settlement  in  Chemulpo,   31  ; 


hatred  of  the  Koreans  to- 
wards, 31,  344;  shipping  and 
commerce  of,  32;  control  rice 
trade  of  Chemulpo,  32;  the 
Legation  and  colony  at  Seoul, 
43;  Japs  in  Won-San,  176; 
prestige,  a  blow  to,  278. 

Japan,  last  glimpse  of,  23;  sea 
of,  14,  30,  74,  103,  145,  149; 
outwits  China  in  Korea,  182. 

Jones,  Mr.  Heber,  341,  400,  415, 
418. 

"Judgment,  Temple  of,"  139. 

Junks,  Korean,  174. 

Justice,  the  Ministry  of,  383. 

Ka-chang,  322,  323. 

Kai-chhon,  355. 

Kai-Song  (Song-do),  293. 

Kal-ron-gi,  150. 

Kang-ge  Mountains,  297. 

Kang,  the,  197,  204. 

Kang-won  Do,  the,  14. 

Kang-won  Province,  156. 

Kanjo  Shimbo  newspaper,  the, 440. 

Ka-phyong,  109,  112. 

Keum-Kang  San  Mountains, 
the,  107,  129,  133,  140,  141, 
146,  149,  150;  Monasteries  of, 
134,  141. 

Keum-San  Gang  river,  129. 

Keum-San  goldfields,  323,  355. 

Khabaroffka,  242,  244;  Korean 
settlers  near,  225,  233. 

Khordadbeh,  the  Arab,  his 
"  Book  of  Roads  and  Prov- 
inces," 12, 

Ki-cho,  the,  138,  141,  149. 

Ki-jun,  355. 

Kimchi,  89,  153,  154. 

Kim  Ok-yun,  murderer  of,  432. 

Kim,  the  boatman,  70,  82,  85, 
92,  101-102,  107, 

King  Li  Hsi  and  the  Kur-dong 
at  Seoul,  58;  audience  with, 
appearance  and  character  of, 
252,  253,  256-260,  268,  428; 
practically  a  prisoner,  362; 
escapes  to  the  Russian  Lega- 
tion, 365,  430;  issues  procla- 
mation   respecting  hair-crop- 


48c 


Index 


ping,  363;  power  of  the,  371, 
375,  378. 

King's  oath,  the  "Korean,  249. 

Kings,  palace  of  the,  295. 

Kit-ze  introduces  the  elements 
of  Chinese  civilization  in  the 
I2th  century,  12,  355;  his  tomb 
and  temple,  318,  319. 

Kobe,  175. 

Kol-lip  daemon,  421. 

Ko-mop-so  river,  the  323. 

Ko-moun  Tari,  310. 

Komura,  Mr.,  278,  281. 

Kong-won  Do,  74,  155. 

Kong-won,  107. 

Korea,  its  geographical  position, 
II,  14;  the  church  of,  11;  open- 
ed first  by  the  treaties,  11; 
population,  13;  rivers,  lakes, 
and  harbors,  14;  volcanoes, 
14;  geology,  15;  mountains, 
15;  climate,  16;  fauna,  16; 
forest  wealth,  17;  flora,  17; 
minerals,  17;  rulers  of,  18; 
cabinet  ministers,  18;  army, 
19;  provinces  of,  19;  the  rev- 
enue and  its  sources,  19;  trea- 
ties with,  19;  the  coinage,  19, 
20;  treaty  ports,  20;  language, 
20,  21;  religion,  21,  64,  399; 
society,  22;  neighbors  of,  23; 
foreign  women  in,  28;  rebel- 
lion in  Southern,  179;  Jap- 
anese proposals  for  its  ad- 
ministration, 206;  the  King's 
oath,  249;  dynasty  of,  worn 
out,  255;  a  dark  chapter  in  its 
history,  271;  last  words  on, 
445;  her  resources,  445;  class 
privileges  in,ioi,  446,  450;  dis- 
satisfaction in,  281 ;  farmers  in, 
447, 450;  Japanese  influence  in, 
25.  31, .359.  431,  449.  452;  law, 
administration  of  in,  441 ;  mar- 
kets in,  28;  missionary  meth- 
ods in,  28-30,  64;  money  of, 
66,  67,  78;  provincial  gov- 
ernment of,  372,  378;  roads 
in,  20,  128;  security  in,  295; 
trade  in,  24,  32,  304,  307,  391; 
winter  in,  36. 


Korean  animals,  73;  bulls,  36, 
no,  162;  customs,  59,  65,  78, 
loi,  114,  120,  127,  283,  355, 
359;  dogs,  47,  73;  dwellings, 
77;  education,  142,  387; 
finance,  396;  graves,  36,  61; 
inns,  124-128;  nobles  and 
officials,  46;  pigs,  73,  162,  322; 
ponies,  36,  54,  121,  162;  roads, 
20,  128  ;  sheep,  72,  163  ;  sol- 
diers, 56,  209;  streets,  27; 
travellers,  127;  villages,  77, 
162,  225,  234. 

Korean  CJwistian  Advocate,  and 
Christian  News,  the,  440. 

Korean  Repository,  the,  11,  i68, 
346,  352,  440. 

Koreans,  the,  traces  of  Manchu- 
rian  conquest  on,  12;  uniform- 
ity of  their  costume,  12;  phy- 
siognomy of,  12;  a  handsome 
race,  12;  height  of,  13;  mental 
calibre  of,  13;  possess  Oriental 
vices,  13;  seclusion  and  infe- 
rior position  of  women,  13, 
45,  339-343;  their  corruption 
and  brutal  methods  of  pun- 
ishment, 33;  squalid  character 
of  ordinary  Korean  life,  52, 
330;  encumbered  with  debt, 
78;  a  drunken  people,  92; 
voracity  and  omnivorous  char- 
acter, 154;  their  music,  164; 
settlers  in  Siberia,  223;  attach 
themselves  to  the  Greek 
Church,  229;  under  Muscovite 
government,  233;  race  im- 
proved by  settlement  in  Si- 
beria, 236,  336;  independence 
of  secured  by  Japanese,  247. 

Kowshing,  the  transport,  207. 

Ko-yang,  285,  286. 

Krasnoye  Celo,  230,  233,  234. 

Ku-mu-nio,  no. 

Kun-ren-tai,  the  palace  guard, 
270,  271,  272,  275,  278,  280, 
281,  282,  362;  abolition  of  the, 
386. 

Kuntz  and  Albers,  Messrs.,  216, 
220,  224,  239. 

Kur-dong,    the,     a    unique    but 


Index 


481 


now  rare  ceremonial,   51,  60, 

61,  119,  247. 
K'wan,  233. 
Kwan-ja,  the,  (official  passport), 

86,  87,  128,  146,  159,  283. 
Kwan-yin,  143;  image  of,  137. 
Kwass,  231. 

Kyei,  or  associations,  440. 
Kyeng-pok      Palace,    251,    256, 

365,  369,  433,  437. 
Kyeng-wun    Palace,    the,    369, 

398,  428,  429,  437. 
Kyong-heung,  227. 
Kyong-hwi  Province,  303. 
Kyong-kwi  Do,  75. 
Kyong-ku-kyong.  141,  146. 
Kyong-sang  Province,  25,  30. 
Kyong-won  Do,  75. 

Lakes,  14. 

Landis,  Dr.,  400,  415,  421. 

Language  of  the  Koreans, 20, 173. 

Laundresses,  45,  339. 

Lava-fields,  16,  131. 

Law  its  administration  infa- 
mous, 441. 

Liau  river,  the,  186,  193,  199. 

Li  Hsi,  the  King,  royal  proces- 
sion of  at  Seoul,  55;  in  seclu- 
sion at  outbreak  of  war,  183. 

Li  Hung  Chang,  267, 

Lindholm,  Mr.,  241. 

Lion  Stone,  the,  145. 

Liquor  drinking,  91. 

Litany,  a  Greek,  231. 

Literary  swells,  104,  339, 

Literature,  the  Temple  of,  382. 

Lone-tree  Hill,  the,  45. 

Long-shin  daemons,  417. 

Lotus  dance,  the,  352. 

Lucifer  matches,  168. 

Lynch  law,  amateur,  104. 

Macdonald,  Sir  Claude,  430. 
Ma-cha  Tong  lake,  156,  158. 
Ma-chai,  85,  106,  iii. 
Magistrate,  an  interview  with  a, 

86. 
Ma-ha-ly-an  Sa  monastery,  143. 
Mak-pai  Pass,  the,  150. 
Ma-kyo,  106. 


Mama,  or  the  smallpox  daemon, 

413,  414- 

Manchu  head-dress,  200;  sol- 
diers, 208,  210. 

Manchu  race,  the,  190. 

Manchuria,  brigands  in,  188; 
Chinese  immigrants  to,  188; 
Government  of,  201;  immi- 
grations from,  12;  population 
of,  187;  trade  of,  189;  vice- 
royalty  of,  187,  191;  authoress 
departs  to,  186;  sojourn  at  vice 
royalty  of,  187;  a  deluge  in, 
193;  old  capital  of,  201;  prac- 
tice of  medicine  in,  203;  less 
hostile  to  foreigners,  207:  visit 
to  Russian,  223. 

Mandarins  and  their  retainers, 

329- 

Mang-kun,  the,  114,  360. 

Man-pok-Tong,  the,  145;  fear 
of  tigers,  132,  292,  302,  325; 
superstition  of,  129. 

Manufactures,  18. 

Ma-pu,  35,  40,  68,  181. 

Mapus,  or  grooms,  121-132,  164, 
284,  285,  293,  302. 

Marble  pagoda  of  Seoul,  the,  43. 

Ma-ri  Kei,  132. 

Market,  a  Korean,  28,  306,  307. 

Marriage  customs,  114,  342. 

Marriage,  early,  prohibited,  385. 

Matunin,  Mr.,  227. 

Meals,  79;  by  the  way,  82,  83. 

Medicine,  practice  of  in  Man- 
churia, 203;  medical  missions 
in  Korea,  424. 

Mesozoic  and  metamorphic 
rocks.     (See  Geology.) 

Miller,  Mr.,  a  young  missionary 
fellow-traveller,  66,  70,  83,  87, 
104,  105,  142,  151,  159- 

Mineral  wealth  of,  17,  18,  25, 108. 

Missionaries  and  the  Missions, 
20,  21,  29,  30,  63,  64,  65,  172, 
198,  201,  346,  390;  statistics  of 
Missions,  462,  463. 

Monarchy,  character  of  the,  18. 

Monasteries,  Diamond  Mount- 
ain, 133. 

Monastery  of  Sok-WangSa,  169. 


482 


Index 


Mongolian  eye,  obliquity  of  in 

the  Koreans,  12. 
Millet,  the  use  of,  321. 
Min  clan,  the,  261. 
Ming  tombs,  the,  201. 
Ministers,  execution  of,  367;  of 

State,  duties  of,  379. 
"  Ministres  de  Parade,"  201. 
Min  Yeng-chyun,  371. 
Miriang,  25. 
Mirioks,  76,  iii,  286. 
Miriok  Yang  Pass,  321. 
Missionary  work,  22,  29,  30,  63- 

65,    172,    201,    207,    227,    346; 

statistics  of,  462. 
Mission    Hospital,  a   fine,    202; 

service,  a,  350. 
Miura,    General  Viscount,  269, 

270,  275,  277,  453,  455. 
Moffet,   Mr.,   76,  312,   313,  316, 

320,  347. 
Mok-po,  458. 
Mok-po  river,  14,  19. 
Money,  66,  78. 
Monks,    133-149;   ignorant  and 

superstitious,  142. 
Monuments,  294. 
Mou-chin  Tai,  328,  336,  338. 
Mounds,   used  for  interment  of 

the  living,  175. 
Mountainous   character    of    the 

country,  15;  of  Seoul,  45. 
Mourning  costume,  63, 
Mukden,  anti-foreign  feeling  in, 

208,211;  cabs  of,  199;  mission 

hospital,  202;  pawnshops,  205; 

suicides    in,  205 ;    system   of 

medicine,  203;    trade  of,  200, 

211;  city  of,  192,  199,   200;  its 

successful  missions,  201,  202, 

208. 
Mulberry     gardens     of     Seoul, 

Mulberry  palace  of   Seoul,    45, 

247,  416. 
Music,   discordant  character   of 

the  native,  164,  165;  vocal, 166. 
Murata  rifle,  the,  209. 
Mu-tang,  belief  in,  422-426. 
Mu-tang    sorcerors,     114,     129, 

164,    287,    290,    312,   335,   351, 


400,  408;  as  oracles,  412;  rites 
of,  413;  marriage  with,  425. 
Myo-kil  Sang,  the,  145. 

Nagasaki,  Chinese  town  of,  23, 
213,  269, 

Nai  Kak,  the,  377. 

Naktong,  64. 

Nak-Tong  river,  14,  25. 

Nam  Chhon  valley  and  river, 
308,  309. 

Nam  Han  fortress,  83,  84,  105, 
181. 

Nam-San,  45,  68,  163,  169;  for- 
tress, 105. 

Nam  San  mountains,  39,  43,  45, 
68,  97. 

Nang-chon,  106,  no,  112. 

JVaniwa,  the  cruiser,  207. 

National  life  of  Korea  exists 
only  at  Seoul,  59. 

Newchwang,  city  of,  175,  186, 
187,  191,  192,  212,  355;  port  of, 
189. 

Newspapers  issued  at  Seoul, 
440. 

Nicolaeffk,  219. 

Night,  a  hideously  memorable, 
157. 

Nikolskoye,  military  station  of, 
240,  241 ;  Korean  settlements 
near,  233. 

"Ninety-nine  Turns,"  pass  of 
the,  152. 

Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  steamers 
of,  175,  181. 

Nobles,  their  idleness,  46;  a 
privileged  class,  loi;  exac- 
tions of,  102. 

North  branch  of  the  Han,  voy- 
age on,  106. 

Northward  ho!  320. 

Nowo  Kiewsk,  Russian  military 
post,  224,  225,  234,  238. 

Nuns,  141. 

O-bang-chang-kun  daemons, 415. 

O'Conor,  Lady,  186. 

Officials,  superbly  dressed,  46, 
54;  resent  the  new  regime  in- 
augurated   by    the  Japanese, 


Index 


483 


262;  considered  as  vampires  in 
Korea,  303,  370,  372;  memo- 
rabilia governing,  379;  cor- 
ruption of,  397,  431. 

O-hung-suk  Ju,  301. 

Oieson,  Mr.,  158,  458. 

Oil  paper  used  as  mats,  323. 

Okamoto,  Mr.,  271,  277. 

Omnivorous  Koreans,  154. 

Op  Ju  daemon,  420. 

Oracles,  412. 

Orange  peel,  use  of,  92. 

Oricol,  246. 

Osaka,  267. 

Osborne,  Mr.,  458. 

Oshima,  General,  318. 

Otori,  Mr.,  44,  183,  269,  373,  374, 

455.. 
Ou-chin-gang,  344. 
Outfit,  67. 

Pagoda,  a  ruinous,  91. 
Pai-Chai  College,  388. 
Paik-kui  Mi,  102,  113.  114. 
Paik-tu  San    Mountain,  14,  15, 

334. 
Paik-Yang    Kang    River,   The, 

130,   131. 
Pai-low,  the  439. 
Pa  Ju,  285,  292. 
Pa-ka  Mi,  loi,  102. 
Pak-su  Mu,  the,  409. 
Pak-Yong-Ho,  the  Minister,  247. 
Palace  department,  the,  385. 
P'al-kyong,  155, 
Pa-mul  daemon,  420. 
Pangas,  123,  162. 
Pang-wha  San,  97. 
Pan-pyong,  130. 
Pan-su,  the,  402,  424, 
Paper  manufacture,  306,  323. 
Passenger  cart,  a  Chinese,  197. 
Pawnshops  of  Mukden,  205. 
*'  Pea-boats,"  187,  192. 
Peasants'  houses,  77. 
Peasant  farmer,  the,  78,  305. 
Pechili,  Gulf  of,  184,  213. 
Pedlers,  Korean,  75,  306. 
Peiho  river,  186. 
Peking,  European  exodus  from, 

213. 


Peking  Pass,  the,  43,  437,  439. 
Peninsula    of    Korea,    its    geo- 
graphical location,  13. 
People,  the,  oppressed  by  taxa- 
tion, 102. 
Phallic  symbols,  iii. 
Phyong-an  Do,  321;  goldfields, 

108,  322. 
Phyong  Kang  goldfields,  108. 
Phong-yang,  280,  293,  305,  308, 
310,  312-319,  328,  330;  occupa- 
tion    by   the   Japanese,    313; 
battle    of,   209,   261,  317;  size 
of.   356;    coal    mines   of,   315; 
dancing  and  singing  girls  at, 
352;  first  view  of,  310;  Japan- 
ese soldiers  for,  245,  285;  mis- 
sion   work   at,    346,   350;    toy 
shops  in,  168. 
Physical  appearance  and  height 

of  the  Koreans,  13,  26. 
Physiognomical  features  of  the 

Koreans,  12. 
Pigs,  73,  162,  322. 
Pirates,  attacked  by,  212. 
Police,  434,  441. 
Political  relationships,  452. 
Pong-san,  304. 

Ponies,  32,  36,  54,  121,  122,  162. 
Popheung,  king,  135. 
Population,  13,  76. 
Port  Lazareff,  174, 
Port  Shestakoff,  174,  219. 
Po-san,  345,  355. 
Posango,   75. 

Possiet  Bay,  224,  228,  233. 
Potato  cultivation,  229,  333. 
Po-tok-am  shrine,  143. 
Potong  Mon,  315,  317. 
Potters  at  work,  85. 
Pottery,  native,  307. 
Prefectural  towns  on  the  Han, 

no,  112. 
Primorsk,  220,  223,  233,  236,  241. 
Princess'  Tomb,  the,  62. 
Prisons,  Eastern,  experience  of, 

442. 
Procession,  a  quaint  and  motley 

one  at  Seoul,  56. 
Protestant    churches    in    Seoul, 
63,  65. 


484 


Index 


Provincial     Government,     372, 

378. 
Puk-han  fortress,  105. 
Puk-han  mountains,  39,  247,  284. 
Punishment,  brutal  character  of, 

among  Koreans,  33;  abolished 

by  the  Japanese,  263. 
Purification,  the  rite  of,  411. 
Putiata,  Colonel,  433. 
Pyeng-San,  308. 
Pyok-chol,  temple  of,  84. 
P'yo-un  Sa  monastery,  138,  139, 

143,  144. 

Queen  of  Korea,  audience  with, 
251;  description  of,  252;  dress 
of,  259;  assassination  of,  271, 
273,  455;  removal  of  the  re- 
mains of,  369,  428. 

Rainfall,  161,  191. 

Rapids  of  the  Han,  92,  loi,  105. 

Rebellion    in    Southern    Korea, 

179. 

"Red  Door,"  distinction  of  the, 
299. 

Reforms  in  Korea  pressed  by  the 
Japanese,  257;  partial  accept- 
ance of,  386,  448,  452. 

Religion,   no    national,    21,    63, 

399- 

Religious  shrines,  76. 

Reorganized  Korean  govern- 
ment, 371. 

Revenue,  the,  and  its  sources, 
19. 

Revolutions,  frequency  of,  447. 

Rice  cultivation,  155,  161. 

Rice  trade  of  Chemulpo  in  Ja- 
panese hands,  32,  33. 

Rice  wine  partaken  to  excess, 
91.  92. 

Richofen,  Baron,  his  work  on 
China,  12. 

Ride,  along,  hot,  156. 

Riong  San,  270,  271,  390. 

Ritual  of  invocation,  etc.,  411. 

Rivers,  lakes  and  harbors  of 
Korea,  14,  25. 

Roads,  bad  character  of,  20,  123, 
128. 


Roman  Church  and  Missions  in 
Seoul,  64,  65. 

Ross,  Dr.  and  Mrs.,  198,  202,  211. 

Royal  city,  a,  292. 

Royal  Edict,  a  fraudulent,  276; 
later  edicts,  281,  366,  451. 

Royal  examinations,  abolition 
of,  388;  Library,  the,  256. 

Royal  tombs  of  Seoul,  62. 

Royalty,  an  audience  with,  245. 

Rulers  of  Korea,  18. 

Russian  homes,  235;  adminis- 
tration, 236;  legation  at  Seoul, 
431. 

Russian  intervention,  281;  Man- 
churia, 223,  243;  soldier,  the, 
218. 

Russia's  ''New  Empire"  and 
maritime  province,  242,  243; 
ascendancy  of,  430;  her  gains 
in  Korea,  455;  her  ascend- 
ancy lost,  456. 

Russo-Chinese  frontier,  230; 
Japanese  Treaty,  471;  Korean 
frontier,  230;  Korean  settle- 
ments, 225,  226,  229;  hospi- 
tality of,  235. 

Ryeng-an  Sa,  temple,  of,  84. 

Sabatin,  Mr.,  271,  272,  277. 

Saddle,  twelve  hours  in  the,  325. 

Sagem  daemons,  416. 

Saghalien,  220. 

Sai-kal-chai,  the,  150. 

Sai-nam,  gateway  at,  308. 

Sajorni,  231. 

Sakyamuni,  image  of,  136. 

Salt  industry,  the,  158,  228. 

Sampans,   70,  75. 

Sa-mun,  25. 

San  Chin-choi  Sok  daemon,  420. 

Sang-chin,  25. 

Sang-dan  San,  294. 

Sang-nang  Dang,  129. 

Sanitary  regulations,  436. 

San-kak-San  mountain,  38. 

San-Shin  Ryong  daemons,  416. 

Saretchje,  229. 

Sar-pang  Kori,  123,  126,  129, 

Satovv,  Sir  E.,  68. 

Scotch  missionaries,  201,  207. 


Index 


485 


Scranton,   Dr.,  350. 

Sea  of  Japan,  74. 

Seoul-Fusan  railway,  projected, 
25. 

Seoul,  port  of,  14,  19;  the  capi- 
tal, 35;  mode  of  transit  and 
approach  to,  36;  mean  archi- 
tecture of,  37;  population  and 
fine  situation  of,  38;  beautiful 
and  safe  environs  of,  39;  foul- 
ness of  the  intra-mural  city, 
40;  later  sanitary  improve- 
ments in,  40;  the  shops  and 
their  wares,  41;  the  great  civic 
bronze  bell,  41,42,  51;  beauty 
of  the  ancient  Marble  Pagoda, 
43;  its  hordes  of  mangy  dogs, 
47;  women  of,  free  to  take  ex- 
ercise in  the  streets  only  after 
nightfall,  47;  the  J^ur-don^- fes- 
tival,  51;  seat  of  government 
and  centre  of  official  life,  59; 
graves  of  the  capital,  61 ;  royal 
tombs  of,  62;  the  Missions 
and  Protestant  Churches,  63; 
authoress's  sojourn  in,  246; 
leaves  it,  267;  assassination 
of  the  Queen  at,  273;  mission 
and  ioreign  schools  in, 390;  dae- 
mon festivals  at,  411;  the  city 
in  1897,  427;  metamorphosis 
of,  435;  newspapers  of,  439, 
440;  banking  facilities  in,  20, 
32;  beacon-fire  in,  97;  Board  of 
Rites  at,  141;  burial  clubs  in, 
62;  Chinese  colony  in, 44;  clim- 
ate of,  16;  education  in,  387, 
390;  environs  of,  68;  first  im- 
pressions of,  35,  48;  fortresses 
of,  84;  gates  of ,  39;  houses  of, 
40,  436;  Japanese  ascendency 
in,  247,  261;  Japanese  colony 
in,  45;  lava  fields  near,  16; 
marble  pagoda  in,  43,  84;  mis- 
sionaries in,  64  ;  Mulberry 
Palace,  43;  New  Year's  Day 
in,  264;  occupation  of,  by  Ja- 
pan, 206;  police  of,  434,  441; 
political  conditions  in,  261,268; 
Prefecture  of,  372  ;  sanitary 
regulations  in,  436;  shops  in, 


41,  59,  168;  singing  and  danc- 
ing girls  at,  352;  streets  of,  435, 
436;  trade  of,  60,  75;  to  Won- 
san,  road  from,  129;  walls  of, 
39. 

Settlements,  223,  238. 

Seun-tjeung-pi,  or  monuments, 
294. 

Seven  Star  Gate,  the,  315. 

Shamanism,  21,  63,  401,  402. 

Shamans,  401. 

Shanghai,  175. 

Shan-tung,  188,  220. 

Sheep,  72,  163. 

Shen-si,  188. 

Shestakoff,  Port,  174,  218. 

Shimonoseki,  treaty  of,  269. 

Shin-chang,  or  daemon  generals, 
41=^. 

Shipping  vessels  entering  Ko- 
rean ports,  return  of,  468. 

Shou-yang-yi,  321. 

Sho-wa  Ku,   194,  195. 

Shrines,  77,  129,  133,  149,  333. 

Shur-hung,  303,  415-418. 

Sian-chong,  322. 

Siao-ho  river,  199. 

Siberia,  Korean  settlers  in,  223, 
234;  "  cussedness "  of  Sibe- 
rian ponies,  232. 

Si-jo  style  of  music,  165. 

Sill.  Mr.,  269,  281. 

Simpson,  Mr.  J.  Y.,  244. 

Sin-gang  Kam,  109. 

Sin  Ki  Sun,  438. 

Sin-kyei  Sa  monastery,  149. 

Siphun  river,  241. 

Siptai-wong,  the,  or  "Ten  Jud- 
ges,"  288. 

"Six  Great  Roads,"  the,  128. 

Slavery  abolished,  385. 

Smith,  Mr.  Charles,  217. 

Social  position  of  women,  338. 

Socie'te   des   Missions   Etrangeres, 

389. 
So-il,  95. 
Sok-wang    Sa    monastery,    169, 

170. 
Soldier,    the    Korean,    56,    434; 

the  Chinese,  209;  the  Russian, 

218. 


486 


Index 


Sol-rak  San  mountain,  loo. 

Song-do,  visit  to  the  city  of,  293. 

Song,  examples  of  native,  166. 

Song  Ju  daemon,  418. 

Song  Whoang  Dan  altar,4i7,4i8. 

Son-tong,  141, 

Sorcerers  and  geomancers,  403. 

Sorning  (sponging)  on  relations, 
446,  447. 

Spanish  chestnuts, groves  of,io8. 

Spasskoje,  242. 

Spinsterhood,  115. 

Spirits,  evil,  classified,  421,  422. 

Spirit  shrine,  a,  129,  133. 

Spirit  worship,  22,  63,  95,  96. 

"Star  Board,"  the,  287. 

St.  Peter,  Sisters  of,  64. 

St.  Peter  the  Great,  Gulf  of,  220. 

Straw  fringes,  use  of,  299. 

Streets,  27,  435. 

Stripling,  Mr.  A.  B.,  441. 

Su-chung  Dai,  155. 

Sugimura,  Mr.,  275,  277. 

Suicide,  prevalence  of  in  Muk- 
den, 205. 

Sun-chhon,  338. 

Sungacha  river,  244, 

Suruga  Maru,  the  s.  s.,  269. 

Swallow  King's  Rewards,  The,2>S^' 

Swings,  164. 

Sword  and  Dragon  Dance,  the, 
353. 

Syo-im,  159. 

Tablets,  stone,  103. 

Tai-dong  river,  14,  17,  108,  308, 

310,  314,  315,  322,  324,  327,  330, 
J35.  338,344,355. 
Taiping  rebellion,  188. 
Tai-won-Kun,  the,  37,  207,  255, 

256,  262,  269,  271,  274,  275,  362, 

437. 
Taku  forts,  the,  186. 
Tanning  industry,  the,  441, 
Tan-pa-Ryong    Pass,    the,    132, 

133,  134. 
Tan-yang,  75,  90,  94,  97,  98,  106. 
Tao-jol,  the,  303, 
Ta-rai,  11 1. 
Tarantass  (Russian  vehicle), the, 

225,  226,  228. 


Ta-ri-mak,  163,  168. 
Taxation,  burden  of,  102,  384. 
Tchyu-Chichang  Pass,  152. 
Temperature,  high,  157,  159,160, 

172,  191,  193;  low,  204,  246,  302. 
Temple,  interior  of  a,  87. 
Temple  of  the  God  of  War,  60. 
"Temple  of  the  Ten  Judges," 

136. 
Temples,  84,133,149,170,295,303. 
"Ten  Judges,"  the,  288. 
Thong-chhon,  155. 
"Throwing  the  ball,"  353, 
Tientsin,  175;  treaty  of,  206. 
Tiger-hunters,  73,  127,  150. 
Tigers,    Korean    and    Manchu- 

rian,   73  ;  the  hunting  of,   73, 

150;  dread  of,  127;  "  tiger  on 

the  brain,"  132. 
Ti  Ju  daemon,  419,  420. 
Toic-Chhon,  323,  325,  327,  328; 

squalor  of  dwellings  at,  329, 

333,  345- 
Tol  Maru,  302. 
Tomak-na-dali,  85. 
Tombs,  77. 
Tong-haks,  the,  29,  80,  177,  180, 

181,  206,  264,  370. 
Tong-ku,  131. 
Top-knot,     the,    359,    360,    361, 

362;  proclamation  regarding, 

366. 
Tornado,  a,  130. 
To-tam,  99,  100,  loi. 
To-ti-chi  Shin  daemons,  418. 
Toys,  168. 
Trade,  24,  25,  31,  32,  304,  308, 

391     396,  450;    statistics,    462, 

466;    foreign,    extent  of,   391, 

392,  464. 
Tragedy,  a  palace,  273, 
Trans-Siberian      railroad,     174; 

trip    over   eastern  section  of, 

239;  construction  of,  244. 
Transition  stage,  a,   in  Korean 

annals,  261. 
Travellers,  127. 
Travelling,    arrangements    for, 

67,  70. 
Treasury  department  at   Seoul, 

381;  cleansing  of,  449. 


Index 


487 


Treaties  with  foreign  countries, 

19,  471,  473. 
Treaty   ports,   20,    32,   357,   458; 

population  of,  469,  470. 
Treaty  powers,  the,  207. 
Troops  (Chinese)  on  march,  206. 
Tso,  General,  203,  210,  215,  315, 

320;  death  of,  316, 
Tsushima,  island  of,  23. 
Tu-men  river,   14,   17,  223,  228, 

230,  231,  233,  242. 
"Twelve      Thousand      Peaks," 

beauty  of  the,  138. 
Tyzen  Ho  river,  233. 

Underwood,  Mrs.,  251,  252,  254, 

279. 
Un-san,  322. 

Unterberger,  General,  217, 
Upper  classes,  inactivity  of,  446. 
Ur-rop-so,   108. 
Ussuri,  239,  240. 
Ussuri  railway,  239,  240. 
Ut-Kiri,  107,  no. 

Vermin,  protection  against,  292. 

Vernacular  schools.  Govern- 
ment, 388. 

Victoria,  Queen,  referred  to  by 
Queen  of  Korea,  259. 

Victory,  cost  of,  267. 

Villages,  77,  162,  225,  226,  229, 
234;  dirty  and  squalid,  130. 

Village  system,  the,  383  ;  coun- 
cil of,  384. 

Vladivostok  {See  Wladivostok). 

Vocal  music,  native,  166. 

Volcanic  action,  signs  of,  14,  16. 

"  Volunteer  Fleet,"  the  Russian, 
218,  239. 

Voracity  of  the  Koreans,  154. 

Voyage  up  the  Han,  A,  82;  its 
drawbacks,  105. 

Waeber,  Mr.,  183,  368,  431; 
Mme.,  280. 

"  Walking  the  Bridges,"  custom 
of.  266. 

War,  impending,  177. 

War  declared,  208,  454;  disar- 
ranges ocean  transit,  213;  en- 


thusiasm for,  214;  reforms 
induced  by,  268. 

Warner,  Mr.,  68. 

War  Office,  382. 

Waters,  Colonel,  244. 

Wei-hai-wei,  fall  of,  267. 

Wei-man,   355. 

Western  China,  visit  to,  282,  284; 
equipment  for,  284. 

Whang  Hai  coast,  the,  357. 

Whang-Ju,  308-310. 

"White-headed  Mountain,"  14. 

Widows,  remarriage  of,  291,  385. 

Wife,  the  duty  of  a,  118. 

Wildfowl,  174. 

Wilkinson,  Mr.,  31. 

Witch  doctors,  203. 

Wladivostok,  24,  25,  175,  213- 
222,  223,  224,  239,  240,  241; 
great  progress  of.  219;  its 
militarism, 221;  Chinese  shops 
in,  220;  climate  of  222;  Ko- 
rean settlements  near,  233; 
population  of,  219;  public 
buildings  in,  220;  visit  of  the 
Tsar  to,  239. 

Wol-po,  323. 

Women  of  Korea,  seclusion  and 
inferior  position  of,  13,  119; 
"slaves  to  the  laundry"  at 
Seoul,  45;  Seoul  women  per- 
mitted to  take  exercise  in  the 
streets  only  after  nightfall, 
47;  curious  to  see  and  inspect 
the  garb  of  foreign  women, 
88,  94,  127;  subjection  of  as  a 
wife,  118;  social  position  of, 
338,  339;  peasant  women,  340. 

Won-chon,  no. 

Wong,  "  my  servant,"  66,  69,  92, 
no,  125,  127,  164,  193,  197. 

Won  Ju,  90,  94. 

Won-San,  14,  19,  20,  73,  109, 
112,  123,  150,  158,  160,  163. 
169,  170,  173-178,  184,  245, 
328,  395;  population  of,  176, 
470;  Japanese  troops  pass 
through,  245. 

Won-sang,  trade  of,  176. 

Wyers,  Mr.,  69,  70. 

Wylie,  Mr.,  murder  of,  208,  211. 


488 


Index 


Yalu  river,  the,  14. 

Yamen,  a,  86,  93,  104,  112,  163, 

262,  303,  338;  runners,  51,  57, 

86,  336,  338,  339. 
Yang-bans,    59,   77-79,    87,    loi, 

102,    114,    116,    127,    235,    322, 

338,  448,  450. 
Yang-kun,  83. 
Yangtze  rapids,  the,  106. 
Yang-wol,  103. 
Yantchihe,  226,  227. 
Ye  Cha  Yun,  427,  435. 
Yellow  Sea,  the,  14,  30. 
Yen,  the  Japanese,  305. 
Yi  family,  daemon  of  the,  425. 
Yi,  General,  206. 
Yi   Hak  In,   Mr.,  283,   284,  292, 

294,  298,  302,    304,    308,    312, 


318,   320,   324,    326,   331.    334, 

354,  356. 
Yi  Kyong-jik,  273. 
Ying-tzli,  186. 
Yo  ju,  town  of,  86,  87;  authoress 

an  object  of  curiosity  at,  89. 
Yong-Chhun,    75,    76,    102,    103, 

104,  106;  rapids  of,  105. 
Yong-Wol,  78. 
Yon-yung  Pa-da,  357. 
Yuan,  Mr.,  44,  183;  big  bell  at, 

147. 
Yu-chom    Sa     Monastery,    the, 

138,  142,  143,  146,  147. 
Yul-sa,  the  monk,  135. 
Yung-hing,  173. 
Yung-won,  328. 


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